JAN 10

Both the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas are underway this week. I went to the auto show (largely because it's closer), but a lot of this year's emphasis seems to be on the integration of cars with cloud computing.

Green cars are present, but they aren't the focus they have been in previous years. In their floor displays, Chevrolet's Volt, Nissan's Leaf, and the Toyota Priuses (among others) are just another part of the lineup, without a lot of special attention. The Honda Civic Natural Gas car, which won the Green Car of the Year, sits off to the side of the Honda display like a tacked on afterthought.  Everyone may still have EVs and hybrids, but it seems that they're an expected part of a complete line, and don't need to be emphasized as in previous years.

Several manufacturers presentations focused on making the car a connected platform, emphasizing smart features like navigation and integration with social media. Ford's 'Cloud' presentation is a 12-seat ride that raises up above the show floor into a 360 degree panorama presentation about the connectedness of their systems.

More broadly, this starts to present the car as a service rather than just a product; the connectivity the car offers instead of a thing that one has. One of Ford's displays around the 'Cloud' exhibit graphically shows the percentage of automobile owners in several world cities. If automakers are starting to see this as a trend, there could be something more revolutionary going on, and even more overlap between NAIAS and CES may be forthcoming in the coming years.

Comments (4)

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written by Gretchen Mork, January 23, 2012

You can call me a control freak, but I like to do the thinking and navigating myself.

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computer recycling
written by computer recycling, February 07, 2012

what is needed is cloud based traffic information systems. There are systems that use radio solutions, but with the increased benefits of internet based data we could see automated car to car communications (eg. visual display of the traffic ahead, automated notfication of accidents by the cars themselves etc).

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written by biogetica, November 05, 2012

People may be a control freak but auto navigation does come in handy at times and also I like the idea of cloud based traffic information systems which would be really really helpful.

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written by Bruce, March 22, 2013

With the advance in technology and the integration of cloud computing into cars, the era of modern transportation has hit a fast forward button. There has been an escalation in the application and integration of various technologies linking various devices like smartphones to cars via the use of various apps and services. With the proper implementation and usage of the cloud, the whole technology of transportation is gonna be transferred to a whole new level.

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