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Whether for drivers traveling for business or pleasure, for rental car companies or vehicle fleet operators – services and applications from the Web will find a direct route to the cockpit in real time, creating new business models.

Every German drives an average of 12,500 kilometers per year in his or her car. A 20-minute daily commute to work translates into an entire year’s worth of time over the course of a 40-year career. But one can spend travel time more productively than just going from point A to point B. Almost all car manufacturers are working on concepts for making the car a component of connected life and work. Yesterday’s “Golf Generation” is today’s “iPod Generation,” which is forging ahead to turn the car from merely a “set of wheels” to a rolling end-device,” thereby closing the last Internet gap. “We are convinced that starting in 2016 the majority of consumers in the established auto markets will consider the networking of their cars to be an important criterion for their purchase decision,” forecasts Gartner analyst and automobile expert Thilo Koslowski.

Horst Leonberger, who is working on the connected car of the future together with a team of specialists at Telekom, is certain: “We are close to creating a car that allows us to do the same things as does a PC, the Internet and a smartphone. If we were to combine the functioning solutions and pilot projects of the car manufacturers, suppliers and ICTICT

Information and Communication Technology. These two terms began to be combined in the 1980s to emphasize the growing convergence between the two technologies.

service providers into one car, we would be able to take care of most of our tasks while on the road today.” Thanks to a voice-controlled communication system, for example, drivers will be able to send out contracts, answer their emails and set up appointments in the near future. New business models will also be created for car rental companies and vehicle fleet operators, for example, through an eco-bonus for very energy-efficient driving or optional services such as A/C and a Dolby surround sound system, which can be activated online. Of course, safety always has priority: On the roads the “multimedia system in the car must be intuitive and voice-controllable,” says the automotive expert.

Together with BMW, Deutsche Telekom currently offers the telematics service BMW Connected Drive; the Munich-based carmaker offers an intelligent maintenance system in all of its vehicle classes as well as expanded traffic information, an automatic emergency call and Google services. Since 2009 T-Systems and Continental have been developing a multimedia system – called AutoLinQ – which combines navigation, Internet and online services. Together with MAN, T-Systems developed a telematics application for truck vehicle fleet operators whose functions include a digital driver’s logbook and vehicle fleet and maintenance management.

You can find out more about the connected car in the next edition of Best Practice, out on 22 September.