| |November 20219a deer running in front of a car, the automaker needs to be able to take that data, analyze it, and teach the artificial intelligence governing the vehicle's responses to take the right course of action when encountering similar incidents. Ultimately, this level of research relies on the manufacturers' ability to capture, store, analyze, and act on massive amounts of data. The earli-er an automaker devotes resources to it, the greater their competitive advantage grows. Connected Cars There is also a push to improve driv-ing experience with connected cars that share data in real-time through consistent connections to data cen-ters and public cloud providers. Much like mobile devices, con-nected cars will give drivers the op-portunity to receive nearby offers from retailers (such as coupons), along with advertisements delivered in real time and tailored to their buying habits. These opt-in programs could provide another lev-el of convenience to customers and a po-tential revenue stream for manufacturers who partner with businesses. Eventually, connected cars will go beyond just offering drivers new ways to interact with their vehicles to enable interaction between the vehicles themselves. Interconnected vehicles capable of sharing data on road conditions, route alterations, and crash alerts will create a dy-namic neural network, capable of simultaneously coordinating speeds, following distances, and braking processes for optimal travel speed and fuel efficiency. Smart Manufacturing For any automaker - whether an OEM or parts supplier - manufac-turing is the biggest ongoing ex-pense. The ability to make the man-ufacturing process more efficient, consistent, and cost-effective will lead to significant financial savings and improved customer satisfaction. Data and digitization are helping top auto manufacturers identify er-rors and faulty parts at an earlier stage, driving down manufactur-ing costs substantially and enabling them to reduce prices, reinvest in the business, or return money to shareholders. The digitization of the auto in-dustry will not only change how parts are manufactured but also what is made. Manufacturers will be responsible for pio-neering new sensors, braking mechanisms, onboard connec-tivity devices, and other components required.Why Are Some Auto-makers Lagging? Automakers may un-derstand the importance that their data capital holds, but their core competency is in building cars. Inte-grating disruptive technologies into the processes they've used for decades and managing big data is brand-new to them. Manufacturers must also prepare for the effect this cultural shift will have on development and manu-facturing cycles. The race to imple-ment autonomous vehicles means forgoing the traditional multi-year development cycle and utilizing a more agile approach that improves rapidly and can deliver technology to retrofit existing in-market vehi-cles. It is crucial for manufacturers to start unlocking their data capital to ensure they are not left behind. It's a lesson that applies well be-yond the bounds of the automotive industry: If companies aren't mak-ing serious investments to integrate data into their processes and offer-ings, there's a chance their competi-tors likely are. Moreover, as uncom-fortable as this might be to hear, it will not be long before a late-comer is just a distant speck in the rearview mirror. If companies aren't making serious investments to integrate data into their processes and offerings, there's a chance their competitors likely areVarun Chhabra
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