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Renault-Nissan chooses Microsoft to enable new connectivity experiences

Art_300Buying a car. Driving a car. Owning and maintaining a car. These experiences are changing and advancing every day at an explosive rate. The auto experiences we know today will soon be unrecognizable.

What is driving this transformation? Social and mobile consumer pressure, the advent of the truly connected car, and the eruption of data made possible by the Internet of Things. With today’s advancements in sensors, devices, connectivity, machines, and data insights, innovation in all areas of the automotive business is transforming: from sales, marketing and service, to the factory floor and supply chain.

Connected consumer experiences in the car

As vehicles are becoming smarter and more connected, new opportunities are emerging for automotive manufacturers to deliver superior vehicles and compelling connected experiences and new smart mobility services. Connected vehicles make up approximately 20% of new vehicle sales today, but this is forecasted to reach more than 90% by 2020. And, according to Gartner, Inc., by 2020, there will be a quarter billion connected vehicles on the road, making connected cars not merely a novelty, but moving toward the norm.

As more of these connected cars are hitting the road, and people spend more time in their cars, we see the car itself quickly becoming a device that is naturally part of our digital life, helping to make that time spent in the car more efficient. The expectation of the digitally savvy consumer is that our cars should be able to provide the same personalized connectivity experiences as do our smart phones and tablets, connecting not just to the Internet, but also to other cars, mobile phones, home computers, and the list goes on.

Microsoft’s vision for automotive transformation is to help carmakers build these new connected capabilities, helping them expand their focus from just manufacturing and selling a car to going after theses new smart mobility and productivity services opportunities that consumers have come to expect. As we partner with automakers to build mutual value, we are essentially helping them to transform into a new kind of business—a digital business that uses our intelligent cloud, productivity tools, and personal computing to bring connected cars to life.

Next-generation driving innovation with the Renault-Nissan Alliance

An exciting example of this kind of partnership is the collaboration we just announced with the Renault-Nissan Alliance to build connected car technologies and driving experiences worldwide. As a first step in this multi-year agreement, we will collaborate to develop next-generation connected services for cars, powered by Microsoft Azure.

While we are early in the development stage, some of the customer experiences that we will work to improve include advanced navigation, predictive maintenance and vehicle-centric services, remote monitoring of car features, external mobile experiences, and over-the-air updates.

The global scale, enterprise-grade security, and rigorous commitment to compliance that Azure brings will allow Renault-Nissan to deliver services worldwide to its broad customer base. In addition, Azure supports multiple operating systems, programming languages and tools, providing flexibility and choice as a platform for the company to deploy services to both Alliance brands.

Partnerships to change the future of driving

This collaboration extends the innovation we have been driving for many years with our customers in terms of enabling new business processes and exciting customer experiences. Some examples include the work we have done with Qoros to put IT systems in the cloud to create the ultimate connected car; our partnership with Delphi to turn every car into a connected car with affordable, cloud-based telematics; our work with BMW to launch digital mobility experiences powered by BMW’s Open Mobility Cloud and built on Microsoft Azure; our collaboration with Toyota to accelerate drivers to the future with Toyota Connected; how we enable smart services with Nissan’s use of Azure to remotely charge vehicles; and our development of new infrastructures to support the car with ABB.

These companies chose Microsoft because our cloud-based intelligence technologies complement their strategies as they transform their business to rich connected experiences and smart mobility services, while allowing them to maintain their brand and keep their data. We offer a global footprint and secure connectivity that supports their digitalization needs.

Through the power of Microsoft Azure, Azure IoT for telematics, and advanced analytics with Cortana Intelligence Suite, we are transforming the future of connected cars through innovations in connected services, productivity, and predictive services. This is about enabling safe, personal and enjoyable experiences for people across all devices and in all aspects of their lives.

It’s clear. The future of connectivity in the automotive industry, and the rich experiences and new business models this brings, has definitely merged into the fast lane with no sign of slowing down.

To learn more, I encourage you to read the new The Future of Automotive report that we produced in partnership with innovation think-tank PSFK. This report shares more insights into where the automotive industry is headed in terms of digital transformation and disruption.

Twitter: @sanrav