Salesforce Connected Vehicle app promises “more personalised driver experiences” (and more ways to make money from drivers)
Salesforce has unveiled its new automotive app, enabling vehicle manufacturers to bring extra connected car functionality to their products.
The Connected Vehicle app offers a suite of development tools and services that car manufacturers can use to create “more personalised driver experiences”, as well as try to extract further revenue from car buyers through marketing and in-vehicle purchasing.
Car manufacturers can use the app to keep tabs on vehicles’ performance and safety.
Its Remote Actions functionality will give manufacturers or their reps the ability to manage the car remotely. For example, by locking or unlocking doors if the car breaks down.
Connected Vehicle also allows vehicle makers to view cars’ telematics data, including fuel and battery consumption, as well as information on the condition of vehicles and their engines. The data can be used to let drivers know if there are any safety concerns with their car, or flag up issues to be looked at when the vehicle gets its next inspection.
The app’s Connected Vehicle Summary feature enables manufacturers to interrogate vehicle data to help decide which upgrades to pitch to drivers, or to recommend servicing for their vehicles.
Third-party data sources, including AWS IoT Fleetwise and Qualcomm’s Car-to-Cloud, can be integrated with Connected Vehicle too.
How Connected Vehicle helps manufacturers make more money
Connected Vehicle also offers car makers more ways to extract cash from their customers.
Salesforce suggests they could use the app for “branded offers”. After analysing information about drivers and their journey histories, for example, manufacturers can pitch offers for “driver services and entertainment apps, upgraded traffic alerts, route planning, or a trial of a new lane departure assist feature”, the company said.
The app can support in-vehicle purchases, such as allowing drivers to pay parking fees or road tolls, through cars’ onboard infotainment systems.
The app is now available through Salesforce’s Automotive Cloud, with additional features – such as Connected Vehicle Summary, which creates summaries of warranty information and customers’ interactions with sales staff – coming this autumn.
Remote Actions will go live next year.
Researchers at McKinsey expect the worldwide market for automotive software and electronics to grow from $257 billion in 2019 to $462 billion by 2030. Around $50 billion will be spent on software, and a further $33 billion on integration, verification and validation services.
Analysts at Wards Intelligence, meanwhile, predict that every new vehicle will be connected by 2030.
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