Bengaluru
As the Indian market is getting primed for 5G, the next generation of mobile broadband, many industries are expected to see an exponential growth of data. However, the one that is going to be inundated with data would be the automotive sector, according to experts.
Cars are already often referred to as data centres on wheels as more lines of software codes exist in automobiles today than in fighter jets, according to Western Digital, a hard disc drive provider owned by SanDisk Corporation, a flash memory devices manufacturer.
With the advancements in technology, cars would start creating a humungous amount of data as they would require 1 terabyte (TB) of storage, for data analyses and insights for better operation. In the case of a fleet, the data creation would be multifold and the storage requirement would exceed 1 TB.
The dramatic increase in speed and low latency, powered by 5G, would offer customers a multitude of benefits across the automotive field, said Jaganathan Chelliah, senior director, Marketing, India & Middle East and Africa, Western Digital.
“Connected cars are beginning to look more like small data centres and as they develop, they will move from the current figuration of a distributed architecture to one that is more like a data hub, with various sensors connecting to it,” he explained.
While 5G would enable data to move to and from the vehicle with low latency, data storage devices enable all of the in-car applications – from infotainment to ADAS to autonomous to work seamlessly, Mr. Chelliah said.
The 5G network enables the transfer of data at a quicker rate, empowering data hubs to be continuously pushing and receiving different kinds of data, thereby enhancing the information available to the driver and vehicle reaction time.
According to NetApp, a hybrid cloud data services and data management firm, the automotive industry stands to get a lot from the 5G roll-out as automobiles today generate an insane amount of telemetry data, which is not only used for maintenance but also to improve user experience.
“With 5G roll-out, the possibility of data collection in real-time will increase, compared with the existing batch collection and processing,” said Shuja Mirza, director, Solutions Engineering, NetApp India & SAARC.
India’s connected car market is expected to grow by more than 20% in the next few years, according to a Deloitte study. The auto market has already started to adapt to several advancements such as ADAS (advanced driver assistant system), and mobile app-based controls.
“Engineering and performance will give way to technology and autonomous features with 5G. What we see now is only the beginning and the best is yet to come in once the spectrum roll-out is complete,” said Khalid Wani, senior director – Sales, India, Western Digital.
