It's the year 1990. You read in a magazine about a hidden waterfall just outside the city. You call your friends on their landline phone to tell them about it and plan a camping trip for the coming Saturday. You are planning to take a mixtape filled with your favourite songs that you could enjoy by the bonfire. The landscape is scenic, so you have restocked your camera with a new film roll to capture the best possible photographs. On your way, you plan to stop at the stationery shop to buy maps, so you don't get lost. Everything is planned.

The year is now 2020. A million circuits in your smartphone enable you to carry a map, a camera, a phone, a music player and the world wide web wherever you go - all together. The very convergence of various items into one, pocket-sized package has revolutionized the world we once knew.

Today connected vehicles are undergoing the same type of transformation which will revolutionize the automotive industry. As we move from standard connected vehicles towards software defined vehicle delivers, the onboard computing is rationalizing from between 75-100 ECUs down to 3-5 high performance computers in the vehicle. Connected vehicle initiatives create new challenges. One obvious challenge is how to ensure connectivity is maintained across multiple countries and with the need to work with potentially hundreds of mobile network operators and even satellite providers. To turn this vision into a reality, automakers need to consider an approach that provides functionality including a unified interface into the vehicle connectivity environment with smart monitoring, application of intelligence into how vehicles are connected, automatic back-up during network outages, predictive SIM profiling, optimized over the air (OTA) vehicle updates and 24x7 service support. This type of functionality and service is of crucial importance for automakers that want to out-perform their competitors and accelerate their business along the road of sustainable transformation.

Connectivity is driving the future of vehicles and automakers must capitalize on their own strengths to become a part of this connected future. The opportunity to convert information into value from the fragmented connected vehicle ecosystem exists across the value chain. Consider both direct monetization opportunities, such as feature up-sell and activation, as well as indirect monetization opportunities, such as the cost of vehicle recalls vs running a software OTA update. Translating technology into successful business strategies will largely depend on how efficiently you can collect and manage remote vehicle data and combine it with innovative technology to monetize and enhance your service offerings. Driving efficiency will require you to move towards a digital ecosystem and embrace new technology, including digitizing the purchase cycle and consumer touchpoints, ensuring workforce safety and partnering with the right partner for global connectivity enablement. You need to recognize and travel along the road to progress and betterment - The Road to Automotive Utopia.

Upstream Security Global Automotive Cybersecurity
Report 2019. (2018). Upstream Security