The Majority of Connected-Vehicle Owners are Pleased with the Technology

According to a recent study by Nielsen, 90 percent of connected-vehicle owners indicated that they are glad to have the technology in their cars.

Connected-car owners remain in the minority overall, but this is likely to be changing over the coming period as automotive marketers continue to spread the word about the positive possibilities. In this study, Nielsen found that currently only about 30 percent of those who were polled own cars with at least one connected feature, with most of those having vehicle-to-driver technology.

In general, most people do not buy the most basic model of a given vehicle, with the majority instead choosing to purchase a car with additional features. A growing number of these add-ons now include some aspect of vehicle connectivity, such as functional telematics or infotainment functionality. For its survey-based study, Nielsen queried 4,094 car owners last October about their experience with vehicle-to-driver communication and voice activated controls, internet-enabled navigation, personal assistance service (such as GM’s OnStar functionality), vehicle internet connectivity and vehicle mobile apps.

Respondents of this study indicated that the leading driver for satisfaction is functional personalization of the technology. Additionally, many of the participants expressed a particular interest in the fun aspects of infotainment features. Interestingly, parents were found to be more likely to have all of the aforementioned connected-car features than non-parents, and also are more likely to use the functionality for at least half of their drives.

Other interesting results of the survey include the fact that 16 percent of respondents who said that they have some form of connected-car functionality indicated that they have voice-activated features, and over half of them use it, with an 87 percent satisfaction rate. Internet-enabled navigation is less widespread, with only 11 percent of the survey respondents saying that they have this feature in their car. Eight percent of those who were polled indicated that they use a personal assistant service, while 7 percent have vehicle Internet connectivity, which is a relatively new feature that will most likely grow in popularity in the coming period. Lastly, 7 percent of respondents said that they have vehicle mobile apps.

The levels of satisfaction for all of these connected-car features was found to be very high, coming in at between 87 percent and 91 percent of the survey participants. A small percentage of respondents found connected-vehicle functionality to be negative, indicating that the features are distracting, complicated and stressful, but this was by far the minority.

Overall, this survey clearly shows that drivers who have connected-cars are very pleased with the technology. Although it is still the minority of car owners who own a connected-vehicle, this number will most likely grow massively over the coming period as automakers roll out increasingly sophisticated technology and drivers in general become more aware of the various ways that these features can improve their driving experience.