Subscription based services will play a stronger role in future of in-car infotainment systems, said Pranshu Gupta, CEO and founder of Trak N Tell. An industry veteran in the field of telematics, Trak N Tell recently ventured into the in-car infotainment system field with their IntelliPlay system which they unveiled at the 2020 Auto Expo. He told us that subscription based services was the key to the future of such systems where the hardware would remain constant and due to improvement in connectivity like 4G, 5G technology and better access to cloud services, the software on the systems would keep updating themselves and offer better if not more services.
This is a model already followed by companies like Tesla, who sell cars with the prerequisite hardware in place and will unlock additional features once you have paid for them. While this is currently a forte of cars on the higher end of the market, solutions like the IntelliPlay are a glimpse into what lies ahead. This approach gets an even stronger backing with the advent of the electric car where electronics and computer control play a much big role than mechanical components. This allows for far more features to be offered with the vehicle and in some cases even fun things like the Tesla Model X’s Party mode as well as a chance to play classic Atari arcade games using the massive centre screen.
Such an approach takes precedence in the Indian car market which has matured quite bit in the last decade. One of the places this is quite evident is in the number of features that’s become standard across various segments and of these (safety apart) the biggest demand has come from in-car infotainment systems. With more cars and more driving taking place on our roads, the in-car entertainment systems have come to the forefront. Now normally, such systems once fitted in the car remain the way they are due to a lack of external connectivity and ultimately can only be changed if physically replaced. However, this will change in the future with the cost of such technology reducing both in terms of price, size and of course the subscription system.
