Connected Car Forecast: Global Connected Car Market to Grow Threefold Within Five Years

The global connected car market will be worth €39 billion in 2018 up from €13 billion in 2012, according to new forecasts from research firm SBD and the GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide.

Over the next five years, there will be an almost sevenfold increase in the number of new cars equipped with factory-fitted mobile connectivity designed to meet demand among regulators and consumers for safety and security features, as well as infotainment and navigation services.

The rapid development of the global connected car market will be driven in part by positive regional regulatory action in Europe, Russia and Brazil.

Cross-Industry Cooperation
To enable the market to achieve its full potential, the automotive and mobile industries need to work closely together to deliver scalable, secure, interoperable, ubiquitous and intuitive connected experiences.

For this reason, the GSMA founded the Connected Car Forum (CCF) as a platform for sharing information between the automotive sector and mobile network operators.

It is designed to enable joint cooperation and foster activities that may not be possible through existing bilateral business discussions in a timely manner.

The CCF is a response to the explicit need, expressed by both automakers and mobile operators, to remove current barriers and to improve the speed and take up of telematics and infotainment services.

Cross-Industry Commitment
To demonstrate their joint commitment towards achieving results, many CCF members are laying the groundwork for connected cars to become ubiquitous. Targets include:

• More than 20% of vehicles sold worldwide in 2015 to include embedded connectivity solutions;
• More than 50% of vehicles sold worldwide in 2015 to be connected (either by embedded, tethered or smartphone integration);
• Every new car to be connected in multiple ways by 2025.