Automobile ERP
Software is today the heart of many systems, and it will allow cars to do more
than ever. Instead of being islands in a sea of traffic, cars will communicate
with each other, with the road and even with the grid. Automakers realize this
and are scrambling to develop unique systems that offer greater utility and
convenience than their competitors. The competitive difference is today in the
software, for cars just like for mobile phones. Modern cars already feature
hundreds of sensors and more are coming to make our cars, and our roads,
smarter. We’re seeing the development of autonomous cars, predictive,
personalized traffic forecasts and even roads that analyze traffic data and
share that information with drivers. We’ll soon go beyond that as the cloud
comes to cars, opening up avenues we haven’t even thought of. If German
researchers can build a thought-controlled car and college students in Virginia
can build a car the blind can drive, anything is possible. The presence of
sophisticated infotainment systems raises the issue of distracted driving, but
also brings us to a broader question about the rate of innovation versus the
evolution of the society. Cars that talk to each other, or even drive
themselves, may seem outlandish or even absurd. But 20 or 30 years from now we
may wonder how we got along without them.