According to industry experts, flexible transportation services are set to replace the purchase of personal vehicles for multiple uses. Also, intelligent vehicles will cater to consumer demands for greater information, safety, and environmental responsibility.

 

IBM’s study said that consumers expect to purchase or lease a vehicle that comes with flexible access to a diverse “garage” of vehicles.

 

While in the current model, consumers may be restricted by finances and buy a more affordable vehicle, or purchase a car with features that don't get used. In the new model, consumers will buy a primary vehicle that perfectly meets their daily needs. They may even have the flexibility to change to a different model.

 

Vice President and Global Automotive Industry Leader for IBM, Sanjay Rishi, noted that basic transportation will no longer be enough for increasingly empowered consumers as they want an automotive experience that matches their lifestyles and lets them move seamlessly from life inside the vehicle to their world outside.

 

Because consumers are demanding more from their vehicles, manufacturers are announcing "intelligent" vehicles that use electronics to provide greater assistance with navigation, as well as provide more information about the vehicle, its environment, and connectivity. The report said that technologies that will have a growing presence in vehicles by 2020 include telematics; a variety of entertainment choices such as data downloads and streaming media; and power train innovations.

 

IBM said that vehicle buyers will appreciate connectivity between their vehicles and other vehicles as well as road infrastructure.

 

There will be continued innovation in alternative power that will extend far beyond 2020. The report shows that hybridization and battery technology will lead the drive toward environmentally sustainable transportation. The study participants believe strongly that by 2020 all new vehicles will have some level of hybridization.

 

Although Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles will remain a viable alternative, only a small fraction of vehicle production has been projected as migrating to this technology by 2020. This is largely due to cost-prohibitive processes and new infrastructures. The Automotive 2020 Global Study indicates that bio-fuels will also see their share of investments, and non-food-based bio-fuels will grow.

 

IBM has defined five imperatives that are most likely to distinguish the successful performers in the automotive world of 2020. The company said that auto companies must embrace new mobility models and integration of other modes of transportation. Auto companies and dealers will have to find new ways to connect with sophisticated consumers and focus on developing a new value proposition for dealerships.

 

In addition, OEMs must establish common processes and standards in order to enable innovations from traditional and non-traditional suppliers to be rapidly integrated. Companies must also widen their enterprise innovation networks and extend the partnering concept to go beyond the current suppliers. Also, OEMs and suppliers should also create balanced, flexible operations aligned with local economies while having a positive social impact wherever business is done.

 

According to IBM sources, the IBM Automotive 2020 Global Study is based on interviews with 125 executives in 15 countries from automotive OEMs, suppliers, and other thought leaders. 85 percent of the top automotive companies worldwide -- including all of the top 10 -- participated.