Vehicle information can open opportunities in retail and safety—if drivers are willing to share it

Data is unlocking new possibilities in connected cars. Quite literally.

Amazon expanded its in-car delivery service this year to certain Ford and Lincoln vehicles. Packages can be delivered right into a customer's trunk, provided they're willing to give the online retail giant access to GPS data on their vehicle's whereabouts and permit it access.

In California and Florida, fuel-delivery companies are rising in popularity, eliminating the need for customers to stop at gas pumps. For now, consumers order service via an app, but soon, a fill-up will be automatically prompted when the data shows the fuel tank has dropped to a certain level.

Fleet owners in Europe are using vehicle data to thwart car theft. By monitoring changes in tire pressure, they can tell when cars or trucks that are supposed to be parked start moving.

These are merely the first glimpses of an era in which troves of new services and features can deliver discounts and enhanced experiences. They are made possible by the fact that more data is harvested from vehicles than ever before—and the quantity and variety of data continues to grow. But all that potential is predicated on a big bet that drivers are willing to share—or, effectively, sell—their driving and vehicular data.

"We liken connected cars to a cellphone on wheels," said Lisa Joy Rosner, chief marketing officer at Otonomo, an Israeli startup that has built a data-aggregation platform that anonymizes vehicle data from multiple auto makers and bundles it for commercial use, so long as drivers give permission. "On our phones, we share our data because we get so much out of it. You get apps that make the phone more interesting."

Otonomo can track as many as 500 data points from vehicles, and the company is working with auto makers including Daimler and with third parties such as insurance companies and municipalities that use customer data.

Applications include some that are generally known, such as usage-based insurance and predictive maintenance diagnostics. But more interesting uses are in what global technology consulting firm Gartner calls an "embryonic" stage. Some offer convenience and discounts, while others hold lifesaving potential.

Revenue Opportunity

For the industry, the potential value of direct data has been well-documented. Gartner projects there will be 255 million connected vehicles on the road in 2020, more than double the 125 million from 2018. These tallies include those equipped with aftermarket devices, though the firm says the bulk of growth comes from embedded connectivity, including in commercial vehicles.

By 2023, the global market for sales of data from these cars will surpass $1 billion, Gartner predicts, more than a tenfold increase from less than $100 million in 2018.

Consider GM's Marketplace, the in-dash app that hosts commercial activities for partners such as Dunkin' and ExxonMobil. Xevo, the software supplier that built Marketplace, estimates that owners will execute one transaction per month, which could produce $6 to $12 per year in revenue for every car that contains Marketplace.

"Spread over millions of vehicles, the potential is very high," according to a 2018 Gartner report titled "Best Practices for Direct Monetization of Connected Vehicles."

That sounds promising for auto makers watching vehicle demand slide. But for them to rake in billions from data-driven services and features, they'll need to assure motorists that their privacy is secure. The industry is wary of betraying customers' confidence, but at least the biggest companies start with a firm foundation: Seventy-seven percent of car owners surveyed by Otonomo in 2018 said they trust the auto makers.

"It's now incumbent on OEMs to maintain and expand on that," Rosner said. "OEMs are the greatest stewards of that information and need to treat consumer data respectfully, giving consumers transparency at all times."

In Otonomo's partnership with Daimler, consumers can decide via an app which applications get data access, and they can revoke permission at any time. Services in development include usage-based or by-the-mile insurance, on-demand fueling, parking payments and electric vehicle charging. The company is gathering real-time data from more than 7 million vehicles worldwide, and it has 75 companies using its platform.

Data for safety

While most auto makers and their partners are focused on harvesting data for commercial purposes, others are using it to develop measures for reducing crashes and improving traffic safety.

GM's OnStar was the original connected-car feature. For almost a quarter century now, it has pioneered and epitomized the safety enhancements that connected cars can deliver. One of its primary selling points to an estimated 12.8 million customers in the U.S. and Canada is that it alerts first responders following a crash.

Today, others are building upon that safety foundation.

In May, Volvo launched what it bills as a post-accident guidance service that helps motorists through a series of checklists. Via a link sent to the driver's smart device, it's easy to search for repair shops and collect information for insurance claims.

Another Israeli startup is going a step further: MDGo uses vehicle data to measure the physical forces exerted upon occupants during a car crash and then runs that data through artificial intelligence algorithms to predict the severity of injuries in real time.

Within nine seconds of a crash, the company can send medical reports to hospitals and insurance companies. Such information can help first responders decide what sort of ambulance to dispatch or which trauma centers should be considered.

Once patients arrive at hospitals, data can paint a picture of the severity of the crash and relay information on injuries sustained in similar crashes. That may help catch injuries that are tricky to diagnose without an indicator to look for them in the first place.

"The problem in medicine is that when you don't know what you are looking for, you don't find it," said Itay Bengad, founder of MDGo and a doctor. "So our job here is to allow the vehicle to speak my language, a physician's language."

Sometimes, the information can be used immediately in emergency rooms. Bowel perforations, for example, are difficult to detect via CT scans, according to Bengad. They can be easily survivable if caught early, he said. But too often, physicians don't know to look for them until hours later, when patients are suffering from sepsis and near death.

In a connected world, doctors might hold a report that suggests 77 percent of occupants from similar-profile crashes suffer bowel perforations. Doctors could have that knowledge before crash victims even arrive in their ER.

Other times, data can help provide insights years after crashes.

"Sometimes, people suffer pain in their neck for two years after a crash," Bengad said. "No one knew that 80 G's of force had been applied to their C1 vertebrae."

MDGo is running a pilot in Israel using data from 270,000 vehicles. It has completed a proof of concept with an insurance company that had an accuracy rate of 87 percent. It is working with two automakers on similar proofs of concept and says it has finalized a strategic investment from one.

When to share

Ninety-two percent of connected-car owners said they're interested in sharing personal data for these sorts of potential lifesaving scenarios, according to the Otonomo survey.

Whether consumers are willing to share such data to contribute to smart city initiatives, which may lead to a greater good in the realm of traffic safety, remains a more nuanced question.

Waycare, another Israeli startup, has shown that crashes can become less frequent when data is shared. The company combines anonymized in-vehicle data on speed and location with other information—from historical traffic patterns and traffic flow to weather conditions.

With its machine learning algorithms, the company can predict traffic hot spots as much as two hours ahead of time. With this information, cities can alert drivers via dynamic-message signs, increase law enforcement traffic patrols and even dispatch emergency services to an area where a crash is likely to occur. But it takes coordination.

"We have systems (in most cities) that are siloed and not communicating with each other, between police and public works and traffic management," said Paul-Matthew Zamsky, head of strategic partnerships at Waycare. "There's no correlation on how things might impact one another until you combine it."

A Waycare pilot project conducted in 2018 along with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada reaped a 17 percent reduction in traffic crashes along a portion of Interstate 15.

That's a stark difference from the broader U.S. trend of increases in traffic crashes and road deaths. Since reaching a modern-day low of 32,479 deaths in 2011, according to NHTSA, the annual traffic fatality rate has risen at the fastest pace since the early 1960s. And pedestrian deaths have reached quarter-century highs, totaling 6,277 in 2018, according to Governors Highway Safety Association estimates.

Self-driving cars are often viewed as the technological remedy for this roadway carnage. They hold the promise of a safer future. But over the last year, the industry has widely acknowledged that fully autonomous vehicles remain years away from deployment, and even longer from meaningful fleet penetration.

Data might hold similar safety promises—and it may deliver a whole lot sooner.