In today's age, automobiles are no longer just modes of transport – they have evolved into tech-savvy companions on wheels. As the third-largest automotive market globally, India is poised for continued growth over the next decade. This period marks the advent of a transformative era in vehicle upgrades and experiences, reshaping our connection with automobiles.
In response to this development, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are now looking beyond the initial sale. They seek to establish an ongoing relationship with customers by providing various services and improvements. This approach turns the sale into a sustained and interactive experience and involves creating an ecosystem where consumers can customize, upgrade, and enhance their vehicles long after the initial purchase.
In this generation, the consumer experience extends far beyond the traditional concept of driving. We are entering an era where your car becomes a platform that you can customize with software upgrades to suit your needs. This Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) approach is revolutionizing the industry's focus, emphasizing the importance of software to achieve post-sale monetization of features. Conversely, there's a hardware-centric approach that entails designing vehicles with components ready for upgrades. This industry will not only shape the evolution of vehicles but also determine how actively consumers can personalize their driving experiences.
HARMAN Automotive has a growing suite of award-winning products that deliver the right information at the right time in the right place and enable fast, seamless hardware and software upgrades that prepare vehicles for today and tomorrow. HARMAN's products support OEMs in implementing their SDV strategy and achieving their post-sale monetization objectives. The company’s range of automotive products provides the OEM with the ability to enable rich experiences post-sale, contributing to a comprehensive strategy for sustained customer engagement.
One such product is HARMAN Ready Upgrade — product-grade domain controllers, software, accessories and tools to reduce time to market and cost by upgradability. Products such as Ready on Demand, HARMAN’s branded audio experience are examples of offerings that can be enabled for post-sale monetization. Similarly, HARMAN Ignite Store enables periodic refresh of the in-vehicle app content after the vehicle is sold while its market-leading OTA solution is a powerful tool that OEM’s can use to refresh software for any Embedded Control Unit in the vehicle.
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