Continental shows off holistic connectivity car

Cars of the future will connect drivers with their home, work and entertainment, while enhancing safety and productivity, says Continental. The German group is showing off its holistic connectivity car at the ITS World Congress this week – and believes its features could be in widespread use in five years’ time.
October 6, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Opening doors: Christian Bouchard (left) and Pascal Clochard

Cars of the future will connect drivers with their home, work and entertainment, while enhancing safety and productivity, says 260 Continental. The German group is showing off its holistic connectivity car at the ITS World Congress this week – and believes its features could be in widespread use in five years’ time.

“The technology is not the problem,” explains Jean-Yves le Gall, International Design Manager, Continental Automotive Systems. “It is connected to the digital environment. You need critical mass, enough users.” As well as accessing online services and apps in the car – with preferences and individual settings of devices seamlessly transferred into the vehicle - the driver can also connect in-car to systems such as home heating.

Continental’s concept car also features an automated voice interface which is sophisticated enough to question whether the driver really wants the climate control to be changed, for instance. “That sort of dialogue sounds natural and is of more value to the user,” le Gall suggests. “If we want people to accept the service, it must not be too intrusive.”

The vehicle system can also authenticate individual drivers through face recognition, rendering it less of a target for thieves. Increasing digitalization and connectivity allows the usage of new data sources for intelligent management of transport – and as part of this smart mobility ecosystem, partnering with other companies gives them access to richer customer profile data too.

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