Desires on wheels: A tech outlook

You call them smart devices on wheels, or desires in motion, cars will become more tech-infused comfort machines offering unlimited possibilities to consumers with one click update or buy options. This article is focused on an appreciation of the future of the automotive industry, looking at what the numbers are saying and the opportunities tech makes possible for humans in a supercomputer-on-wheels future.

The global automotive manufacturing market was worth about 2.86 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021 and was expected to grow to about 2.95 trillion dollars in 2022. This was to be a slow recovery from Covid19, well below the industry’s 2019 market size, according to Statista. The tech drive has led to a drastic reduction in the cost of automobile production while helping to raise the production volume efficiency. Cars will become the biggest provider of pleasure for the future of humanity as we see an extension of how technology has democratized the smartphone industry in cars.

Additionally, today’s consumers want more, despite more stringent rules and regulations and stronger competition doing things faster. With the development of more apps and the use of windshields in cars for display, we should expect more car-friendly apps tailored to bring more comfort to humans on the go. Several companies and software developers are getting on board to create a future of possibilities for autonomous vehicles. The driverless device will put the responsibility to get humans to their destination in the hands of machine learning, thereby allowing us to do more mind tasks with free hands.

For the records, China ranks as the number one producer of cars by volume (21.4m out of 57m total is 37.5%), many of which are sold domestically – African leaders and businesses should learn to tow these lines as big consumer continents with over 1.4 billion humans. According to Federal Reserve, car production in the United States grew to 1.71 million units in February from 1.60 million in January 2023. This local production and patronage of cars will reduce purchase costs by a third and allow local consumers to get more value for their money – higher efficiency.

In addition, our production must consider self-driving cars that bring limitless options. These cars should offer emergency assistance to humans in difficult situations as they become infused with supercomputing powers. Two-way intelligent communications will become a standard in car manufacturing and, with a few subscription bucks, offer superior advisory services on issues of concern to humans with mined intelligence from a global view.

Furthermore, the auto industry accounts for 3% of America’s GDP, with the revenue from United States motor vehicle and parts dealers at $1.53 trillion as of 2021, and sold an estimated 13.75 million cars and light truck vehicles in 2022. China’s automobile gross output exceeded CNY 10 trillion (USD 1.4 trillion) in 2021, adding 10% to China’s GDP. In 2022, Americans bought approximately 13.75 million cars, while 21.48 million passenger cars and 4.79 million commercial vehicles were sold in China. See how the GDP numbers are arrived at when consumption is pushed to the roof with an organized credit system to jumpstart demand-driven production. The government has much to do here by ensuring a stable economy that supports the lifestyle of citizens while their work pays the bills over their lifetime.

African countries need to ponder on the local production of future cars that will not only greet you and respond to your social media chats but also monitor your page likes and analyze social media friends for ranking based on big data analyzed from across the globe. You heard me right; the internet of behaviors (IoB) served on cars will herald the future of smart cars. The sophistication they will make possible through multilayered dashboards will make humans want to engage more from within their automobile machines for the multiple purposes offered.

Furthermore, manufacturers must know that automobiles will be seamlessly paired with computers and smartphones over cloud platforms, offering supercomputing powers to humans in motion. Imagine my car allowing me to continue working as a software developer or social media influencer without breaks. As I hibernate on my MacBook and switch on the ignition, the car switches to pages opened on my closed laptop in a seamless handshake giving me the toggle option between phone and laptop, while the car asks where I would like to go.

According to McKinsey, digitization, increasing automation, and new business models have revolutionized other industries, and automotive will be no exception. These super innovations are giving rise to four disruptive technology-driven trends in the automotive sector: diverse mobility, autonomous driving, electrification, and connectivity. Internet connection and the use of IoT blended with machine learning are making cars a part of the human family.

Yes, cars will communicate with mobile network operators and help restock our refrigerators with groceries, serve our favorite musical playlist, support our ordering processes with the lowest prices and closest market destinations, create business connections, and participate in negotiations and product design. In the world I see, cars will become the closest ally of humans in the future.

Moreover, the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, in 2021, of the over 57 million cars and 23 million commercial vehicles produced in the world, a third of cars are produced in China (21 million units), while the United States manufactures a third of the commercial vehicles (7.6 million). With cars becoming a more comfortable place for humans to stay and think, the options will be endless for the future of desires with driverless technology. Countries serious about boosting their GDP numbers need to rise to contain car manufacturing within their borders, especially with the volume of their internal consumption. According to international estimates, the average annual turnover of the world automobile industry is more than 2.75 trillion euros. This corresponds to 3.65% of the global GDP.

Looking at the future of money, juxtaposed with cars on another note for purchasing power, which is digital, over 100 countries are engaging with the Central Bank’s Digital Currencies, and the Bahamian Sand Dollar (her local digital currency) has been in circulation for more than two years. The Chinese digital renminbi (aka e-CNY) is used to exchange by more than one hundred million individual users and multi-billions of yuan in annual transactions. What can Africans do to engage in the digital currency space? There will eventually be one currency with global acceptance, but African leaders need to find ways to improve the purchasing power of their citizenry through well-organized credit systems. Cars take a large chunk due to importation duties and transportation, making them three times what they should normally cost, all of which can be contained if demand-driven production happens within our borders.

Moreover, more thought and manpower will be needed in the automotive industry, especially in third-world nations like Nigeria. New technologies open up a growing demand for engineering talent from a developing global population. Engineering has always been multi-disciplinary, blending subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics with design and innovation, but its reach is increasing with tech. Engineers have to be aware of technology’s social and environmental impacts. They have to work in complex teams, interacting and cooperating with society, according to the UNESCO Report on Engineering: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities for Development.

However, as desires continue to roll on wheels, congestion will likely lower in the future of road use. The basic cause of congestion is the mutual interference between vehicles in the traffic flow. Thomson and Bull, 2001, offer an objective definition as the situation where introducing an additional vehicle into a traffic flow increases the journey times of the other road users. The Chilean Chamber of Deputies said that a road was considered congested when, in more than half of its total length (including not necessarily continuous stretches), the average speed of the traffic flow was less than 40% of the speed in unrestricted conditions. This opens a new market of possibility for autonomous flying cars with more layers for mobility.

Also noteworthy is that the automotive revenue pool will significantly increase and diversify toward on-demand mobility and data-driven services. This could create up to $1.5 trillion, accounting for up to 30 percent more, in additional revenue potential in 2030, juxtaposed with $5.2 trillion from normal car sales and aftermarket products or services, grown to 50 percent from about $3.5 trillion in 2015. These numbers look good, and African countries need to take a position to be a part of this huge automotive market share.

In conclusion, automotive revenue will tend more toward on-demand mobility and data-driven services in the future, with subscription-based services providing car-downloadable plugin extension services for most of our desires. The autonomous car, windshield display, and connection with the internet will improve the future of human desires on the path to our next destination. At the same time, cloud computing will make work from home extend to the automobile space. Welcome to the future of desires!

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