How can you make any car your own?

The principles of individualized and shared seem contradictory. But technological advances can turn any connected car into your own personal mobility space. Cloud computing, 5G mobile communications and advanced display technology offer the key to providing a secure sense of individuality and ownership in a sharing economy.

​HARMAN Ignite's modular design makes it easy for automakers and service providers to introduce, manage and personalize innovative cloud applications and services, enabling them to maximize the consumer benefits of the connected car​. The arrival of 5G will speed up the incorporation of vehicles into the Internet of Things and vastly increase the amount and type of personalized content that can be accessed seamlessly via the cloud. This will allow consumers to use all aspects of their digital life from any suitably equipped vehicle, including social media accounts, streamed channels and content, as well as personal and business organizational data such as frequently used destinations, appointment diaries etc.


What's more, HARMAN Ignite allows to integrate the consumer's preferred ecosystem or service provider. This means none of anyone's private information needs to be stored in the vehicle. A cloud-based user profile remains securely with the respective provider at all times and when the consumer leaves the vehicle, their information leaves with them.


"HARMAN Ignite allows users to integrate their preferred cloud provider, be it Apple, Google, Microsoft or Samsung. This means no private information is stored in the vehicle."

The future mobility concepts currently under discussion across the automotive sector incorporate the apparently contradictory notions of individualization and shared. Consumers are seeking increasing levels of personalization in all their daily interactions – from shopping to concierge services, playlists to fitness programs – while the popularity of business models like Uber and Airbnb indicate a shift towards a sharing economy.


However, advances in digital technology are enabling the coexistence of these opposites. Consumers can define their individual preferences in everything from music to climate control, seating position, ambient lighting – the list goes on. They can store those settings in the cloud and the vehicle will recognize them and adopt them instantly before they even step inside.


Furthermore, advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning mean that systems will be able to extrapolate preferences based on previous behavior and learned patterns. So, a user may tend to listen to upbeat music in the morning, but switch to a news station later on in the day. Powerful end-to-end cloud platforms​ such as HARMAN Ignite can support such systems.


Related Articles

How can car brands prosper in an uberized world?
New mobility concepts are blurring the lines between owned and shared cars. Automakers aim to protect their brands through a personalized user experience.
Read More
How big will in-car displays become?
Digital displays are rapidly becoming a crucial part of the human-machine interface in vehicles. But are there limits to this visual revolution?
Read More
How will we be entertained in the autonomous age?
With the emergence of autonomous vehicles, commuters and travelers released from the obligation of driving and navigating will gain extra time for other things.
Read More