Embedded car OEM telematics subscribers to reach 258 million worldwide by 2023

Sep 10, 2018 • Fleet Technology • News • connected vehicles • research • Berg Insight • Internet of Things • IoT • telematics • Automated Vehicles • Connected Car Services

According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of telematics service subscribers using embedded systems will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.9 percent from 49.0 million subscribers at the end of 2017 to 258.1 million subscribers at the end of 2023.

Moreover, Berg Insight forecasts that shipments of embedded car OEM telematics systems worldwide will grow from 26.8 million units in 2017 to reach 67.2 million units in 2023, which represents an attach rate of 71.7 percent.

Connected car services have evolved from being a differentiating factor to a common feature with a high attach rate among the premium car brands and are rapidly becoming increasingly common in mid-range vehicles. GM’s OnStar was launched 20 years ago and is today the market leader worldwide with well above 14.0 million users in total, out of which 12.3 million were in North America by year-end 2017.

BMW includes telematics hardware as a standard feature on all its cars sold in 45 markets worldwide and has the second largest user base of an estimated 8.0 million equipped vehicles. PSA Group is currently in third place with 2.9 million connected vehicles in Europe. The carmaker launched an emergency and assistance call service already in 2003. Additional automotive OEMs with over 2 million telematics subscribers also include Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota/Lexus and FCA Group.

“There are several connected car services that experience growing demand from stakeholders including consumers, car manufacturers, governments and various third parties as awareness of the value of telematics spreads”, said Martin Svegander, IoT analyst at Berg Insight.

The leading carmakers are gradually exploring new use cases and business models for telematics such as premium concierge services, usage-based insurance and personal car sharing. “Recently, we have also seen GM, Jaguar Land Rover and Hyundai launch in-vehicle commerce platforms that create opportunities for retailers and merchants to connect with consumers”, added Mr. Svegander.

For field service organisations it will be interesting to see how this trend continues to shape the way we view fleet management and w2e are certainly beginning to see some maturation of a technology that will have a significant impact on our sector.