The country’s automotive industry has had an interesting 2018, and 2019 is poised to be even more so, what with talks of electrification of cars, advanced features like IoT (Internet of Things), big data, cloud computing coming to automobiles, and the promise of connected cars and even artificial intelligence. Read on to know about the most important trends hitting the country’s automotive industry for the rest of 2018 and the next year.

Electrification and hybrids
The rise of electrification of cars is definitely the biggest trend to hit the US automotive industry in 2019, especially the high-end European imported ones. Other trends include an increasing number and diversity of plug-in hybrid cars, what with the growing numbers of electric charging stations Tesla is installing across the country. New Motion is, interestingly, doing the same thing in Europe.

Also, the voltage systems are turning milder now, driven by emission regulations, need for fuel economy, and the need for reduction of CO2 emissions. Switching to the now-recurring 48V architecture or combining it with existing platforms will help carmakers to meet the emission and fuel economy regulations.

Self-driving
The usage of automotive applications and AI-based systems is evolving unimaginably, becoming essential in the coming year and decade and ultimately leading to the introduction of an advanced self-driving car. Autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems, and a human-machine interface driven by strong IoT (5G, Bluetooth, GPS, 4G, and Wi-Fi) will contribute to mobility and ride-hailing on demand. In fact, self-driving cars have even gotten a major boost from the Federal government, with the Congress having signed a major bill supporting the exploration and development of self-driving car technology.

IoT applications
Insurance companies are now increasingly employing IoT data to improve precision in estimating necessary reserve, pricing policies, and assessing risk. This has given way to new automotive insurance sector prospects, such as usage-based insurance (UBI), which is motor insurance considering factors like driver behavior, distance traveled, and vehicle type for premium calculation. This, in turn, will result in lesser accidents by encouraging safe driving behavior, helping insurance companies in improving profits by reducing claims payout wherever necessary. Other future applications of automotive UBI include AI and HMI in transportation, semi-autonomous & autonomous car, and IoT based fleet management, thus having a significant impact on the growth of connected services.

IoT also has applications in automotive vehicle-to-everything technology, offering remote diagnostics and monitoring, emergency vehicle notifications, parking management systems, collision avoidance, and intelligent traffic systems, also providing the vehicle with the ability to receive warnings regarding accident-related alerts and real-time traffic.

Automotive subscription plans
Move over Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Prime–subscription plans are coming to the automotive industry. In fact, automakers such as Cadillac, Porsche, and Lincoln, to name a few, already have such plans in place. These subscription plans offer customers the chance to enjoy new vehicles with hassle-free upgrades on a shorter time frame.