Telematics Munich 2014: Day Two Round Up

A significant portion of the second day of Telematics Munich 2014 concerned the divisive and potentially explosive issue of Big Data. Siegfried Mortkowitz reports on the debate.

The afternoon session of the second day of the Telematics Munich 2014 conference was devoted to three important aspects of car telematics: traffic and navigation; insurance and fleet; and data, analytics and services. Of the three, the most contentious—and therefore most fascinating—was no doubt the debate about data.

Arguably, Big Data is the segment of the automotive ecosystem that frightens players in the space the most, as much for the potential abuses it can lead to as for the disruptions it will provoke. Yet, as the debate rages on—about whether to leverage it, how to leverage it and whose property it is—more and more connected cars and devices are generating more and more data that are being increasingly exploited to benefit vehicle and driver, increase brand loyalty and reduce costs.

But the potential for abuse remains, and perhaps it always will. Nevertheless, Big Data will not go away. On the contrary, it will continue to get Bigger. The wide range of the discussions that took place on the afternoon of Day Two of Telematics Munich 2014 and the diversity of opinions expressed in them testified to the fact that until OEMs, Tier 1s and other players in the automotive space can understand what they are dealing with, Big Data will remain a  source of debate.

You can find out what happened at Europe’s biggest and best connected car event here: telematicsmunich.com/round-up