Wearable Tech Accelerates Into The Auto Industry

From glasses, to watches to clothing, wearable technology is the next wave of our digital world interweaving with our automotive lives.

Technology truly succeeds when it helps us make a process or way of life more productive and beneficial and the future holds a huge market for wearable technology.

Our vehicle-to-person interaction level will soon become much higher with our vehicles; a variety of devices will now connect to our person giving us new levels of control and interaction with our automobiles.

Technology is constantly being adapted into new pieces of apparel, Google Glass is one of the most well known and  progressive devices providing a large range of functions from:

• Voice search
• Taking Pictures / recording videos
• Direction / GPS
• Music
• Calling / Messaging
• Note taking
• Scheduling

 While these all aid in our productiveness of our everyday tasks, I see this going to a completely new level.

Driving

Warning systems are already interactive with steering wheels and seats utilizing vibration and motion to warm/notify the driver in emergency situations. However now imagine a sport coat lined with technology coupled with a pair or high tech glasses that can implement physical outputs to your actual person. Wearable technology will enhance your reactions times, increase your overall awareness and allow you to control the vehicle in more detailed mannors. Keeping the “driving  experience” is something many people fear loosing with technology taking over almost all aspects of our vehicles. Responsive and interactive wearable technology will provide that excitement back to the driver. Everything from gloves and jackets to high-tech helmets will hit the market and be loaded with collaborate technology that will take your inputs and mental simulations and incorporate them directly into your driving experience.

It will be interesting to see what level  warning and safety technology will reach in comparison to the autonomous driving vehicle. Handfuls of driver-less cars cars traveling within inches of each other and successfully reaching destinations is already a reality Google and Volvo has accomplished. However  the factor that comes into play is the unknown of other drivers and the reality that we don’t control other people and their actions. The autonomous vehicle is an idea that is still very scarey to society, the adaptation advantage wearable tech has here is that anyone with any type of vehicle would be allowed to access and utilize this technology, not just those people with the most up to date models.

The Shopping Process Will Become Completely Virtual

It’s obvious the shopping and research process has gone digital with consumers looking to the internet to solve all their vehicle purchasing questions, relying less on salespeople for information and looking to the web to complete their entire shopping process.

On – Lot

Wearable tech like Google Glass will allow the consumer to “test drive” the vehicle without ever stepping foot inside.

Visually scanning a vehicle then bringing up every vehicle statistic from gas milage to cubic feet of storage is already feasible and will allow customers to walk down the rows of your new and used inventory and differentiate every vehicles pros and cons while cross shopping in between steps all with blink of the eye. Augmented reality will then come into play here “opening up” the vehicle and allowing the consumer come into the vehicle and utilizing its functions without even setting foot in the drivers seat.

New Inventory Will Verge a New Path

With the amount of video and digital media skyrocketing in both amount and consumption, consumers will finalize their decisions completely online. The new car market will rely much more heavily on the advertisements and interactions with OEM’s. Brands that most successfully connect with consumers online will lead in vehicle sales and promotion.

Automakers will soon make marketing campaigns that interact directly with the person.

Looking at a new truck? Advertisements will flash before your eyes, virtually interacting with you thus visually stimulating your path to purchase. Our internet experiences are already influenced by the things we search and interact with and the automobile market will be no different. Advertisements will be tailored to our “likes” and will rely much more heavily on targeting.

Mobile Device Utilization

Mobile devices contain massive amounts of computing power and are the perfect bases to connect vast amounts of wearable technology. The other major component here is that our mobile devices posses all of our personal data. Linking wearable tech to our devices will allow them to communicate between one another,  apps linked to the technology will then be used to accomplish the clothings goal. Utilization of Bluetooth and Wifi will allow us to “physically” connect to the digital world. The technology network will become much larger and much more progressive with huge pushes in seamless connectivity between our lives and our devices.

All of this sounds quite futuristic, but the reality is all of this technology already exists.

It’s just a matter of time before this becomes the new social norm.

Images: Mashable