Most motorists will consider in-car connectivity as a “key” feature when it comes to buying their next car, the results of a new survey suggest.
The report was compiled by researchers from telecoms giant Telefónica, which questioned more than 5,000 consumers about their automotive preferences.
Some 80 per cent of the respondents, who were spread across the UK, US, Germany, Brazil and Spain, said they expect the new features of their cars to provide a similar experience to the domestic and public hotspots they already use.
Fortunately for the survey’s participants, Telefónica predicts that 90 per cent of all vehicles produced in 2020 will offer Wi-Fi capabilities. At present, the figure stands at just 10 per cent, telecoms.com reports.
Telefónica’s head of connected cars, Pavan Matthew, thinks the shift will take time.
He was quoted by fleetworld.co.uk as saying: “We can expect to see a gradual creep of connectivity into vehicles over the next few years but there won’t be an explosion over the next 12 months. The reason for this lies in the complexity of the challenges that connectivity is trying to address.”
As for the reasons why consumers want connectivity features, safety and diagnostics management ranked highest, with 73 per cent saying they’d like to be able to check on the state of their vehicles using dedicated smartphone apps.
