Automotive industry has come quite far from what Carl Benz started in 1885 with a stationary gasoline engine with wheels like those in a bicycle. And thanks to total quality management started by Toyota, back when the existence of efficiency and features in a car, were negligible. The seed that Toyota sowed in the automotive industry has led us to integration of automotive industry with mobile app development companies, and even dedicated dashboards with mobile OS integrations.
Recently the launch of ‘Android Auto’ took car infotainment systems to the next level by not only empowering cars with advanced entertainment functionalities, but also connecting these 4-wheeled machines on a global scale, thereby enabling IoT and taking us a step closer to the future.
In this quick read, let us see, in what ways, automotive industry is using mobile applications in different operations:
Table of Contents
Dedicated Apps for Consumers:-
To retain consumers is one of the issues that all forms of businesses have been trying to tackle. While in other sectors like food, apparels, technology etc., it is easier to offer deals and discounts on specific product to provide customers with something to stand by, in case of automotive industry there are fewer things that you can do. Considering that, automotive industry has routed for mobile app development to get dedicated apps that allows car owners to learn more about their cars, and use them in better ways. For those who are interested in the world of automotive, car manufacturers like Ford, Ferrari, have already launched magazines which can help fans stay updated about their favourite cars and bikes.
Smart Infotainment:-
What is better than a car? A car with infotainment system which is smart enough to let you drive without distractions, while sensing what kind of music you would like to listen, what place you would want to go and keep you posted about your trip. Apparently, what we say may sound like a dream, but guess what? The dream is here, and it is called Android Auto. Android Auto brings Google Maps, Play Music, Communication and Apps to one, consolidated interface.
Service Station:-
Automotive industry has a lot to handle, as US alone has more than 1 billion cars. Needless to explain, these cars need maintenance from time to time. With mobile apps, car companies can assign or fix maintenance schedules. Customers can download the dedicated service mobile apps of their respective car makers, and can avail various other services like cleaning, tuning etc. Many high-end car manufacturers also take door-to-door service requests through their mobile app.
Manufacturing:-
Monitoring the process with utmost efficiency is what any industry aims for, to achieve order and optimization in its operations. While computer vision is still not something that comes under the operational area of mobile apps, smartphones equipped with IoT-enabled applications are being used in automotive industry to track data and effectively feeding it to corresponding nodes that can use that data. In a way, IoT apps development is also playing the role of an ERP system, but in an even better way i.e automating the consumption of data in corresponding departmental databases.
Supply Chain Management:-
Another big example of IoT-enabled mobile applications in automotive sector is supply chain management of spares. Every time the inventory runs low on a particular spare or multiple spare parts, the app will notify the corresponding authority or, in some cases, even automatically place the order. This reduces the need for an operator to consistently check the supply over or an ERP software where one has to manually synchronize the whole process.
Rating and Reviews:-
It is quite apparent that consumers’ decisions are being heavily swayed by what the world is saying about a vehicles. With that in mind, most of the automotive players are using popular vehicle listing apps like Edmund, ZigWheels, CarBuzz etc. to market their products even before they are launched in the market. Rate and review market has gone quite huge since we have had digital methods of marketing. In return, automotive industries gain sales and reach almost an equal amount of prospective consumers they would reach conventional marketing methods.
