How will Big Data transform your sedan into the Knight Rider car

Friday, 25 august 2017 | Redacción CEU

In this digital society we inhabit, the changes happen at a vertiginous speed. We are in the transition to a new automotive  model where cars are driven by themselves and they know what we need and anticipate it. They even let us know if they are about to suffer a breakdown. They are ecological, electric, autonomous, do not consume fossil fuels and are permanently connected. At the Fourth Industrial Revolution gates, perhaps the industry that is best taking advantage of the Big Data impetus is the automobile business. What else can we expect from the sector in a few years? How is the massive data irruption affecting the engine world?

Do you remember when you dreamed of driving a car like the Knight Rider car? That 80s series, made millions of young people dream about the possibility of having a car with which they could interact with, live exciting adventures and talk. Today, four decades later, that fantasy is coming closer to becoming a reality. That fictitious Pontiac Firebird predicted the human coexistence with an artificial intelligence -IA- that processed thousands of its surroundings data in a blink of eyes. Of course, our fantastic cars are not that much. Although they are increasingly autonomous and adapted to meet our needs, they still are far from becoming self-conscious –and so sarcastic as KITT was–. The collection and data analysis play a decisive role in the arrival of a fully connected car. Big Data will be the next revulsive to the motor world.

Data are everywhere!

You may be wondering what automotive production stages the Big Data science is being used. The answer is simple, probably in all. In the vehicle design, technical safety aspects, aerodynamics and power are taken into account. These parameters are defined according to the study of the information obtained through millions of data in real time. This new technology is employed in the new cars outline that are manufactured. Issues like functionality, convenience and experience enhancement also have a very important weight. Companies can access to information about what we need, what is more appropriate and what makes us happy.

The car creation process is not exempt from the massive data use either. The automotive sector is one of the industries that has been able to adapt its factories to the modern integration techniques of  assembly line sensors. At first they were only meant to track for improving times and developing more precise machines. Nowadays, their work goes further and help to predict a possible piece failure. These processes are being carried out by factories like Mercedes-Benz in Vitoria or Seat in Martorell.

Along with the automotive business, marketing is other sector for which Big Data means a great challenge. For example, thanks to the information we provide in our social networks, the automobile brands have a better knowledge of their potential customers. In this new hyper-digitized era, it is essential to customize the product –in this case the vehicles–  and the services and to develop predictive models to be competitive.

One of the great advantages of the data use in the automotive sector is the after-sales service improvement, in particular, technical assistance. The work in this area focuses on the logistics and maintenance services perfection. If one car part undergoes a heavy wear or does not work properly, the vehicle itself can notify the incident and take you to the nearest garage shop.