Vehicle companion apps – A car’s best friend

June 17th 2020: Star, global Strategy, Design and Engineering consultancy, has published an analysis of the global vehicle companion application landscape. Star is partnering with Radio Free Mobile, to showcase its in-vehicle application trend analysis. Download a copy of the report copy here.

Companion apps offer great opportunity for the vehicle makers who badly need to become more than vendors of metal boxes on wheels. The addition of a companion app adds basic functionality that makes a vehicle appear smarter than it really is. The real opportunity will come when vehicles are much more digitised than they are today opening up the possibility of using vehicle data for services that are not directly related to the vehicle. This is a major route by which vehicle makers can keep their brands fresh as well as earn the new revenues they will need to stay afloat should electrification and autonomy cause a fall in unit shipments.

• Foundation: A companion app is the starting point for the OEM to begin a proper relationship with the users of its products as historically, OEMs have simply shipped vehicles and forgotten about them. This relationship will become critical to maintaining brand loyalty as well as being able to monetise the digital data that their products generate in the future.
• The gold standard: Tesla and NIO set the standard for companion app usability and functionality. This is partly because they both have electric-only platforms which have no legacy. This means that their vehicles are fully digitised opening up a much wider avenue for digital interaction for the user.
• Usage: is in its infancy. Even the most advanced in this space have not gone beyond turning the mobile phone into a vehicle remote control. However, with a fully digitised vehicle, the app becomes the focal point for a much wider array of functions and services.
• The basics: functions include remote locking, parking location and remote climate control activation which are currently the most useful and easiest services to provide. This is particularly the case when considering the lack of digitisation in legacy internal combustion engine platforms.
• Fragmentation: remains a major problem with different functions being implemented in different apps in some circumstances. For example, a Land Rover user needs 3 different apps to plan routes, remote start the vehicle and check the user guide.
• The road forward: Star sees the companion app becoming increasingly important meaning that a better, smoother and more intuitive user experience will be needed to keep users engaged. OEMs typically lack the skill sets required to succeed and will need to either hire or engage 3^rd parties to keep them on the right track.

Star, a Radio Free Mobile partner, has conducted an in-depth analysis of leading OEMs’ companion apps and features. If you would like to read the full report, download your copy here.

Star is a global team of product creators. We connect strategy, design and engineering into a seamless workflow and deliver impactful technology products that stand out. Over 40% of Star’s business is in the Automotive & Mobility industries, and we partner with 20+ of the world’s leading OEMs, Tier 1s and startups in the mobility space. Using our deep automotive experience, proven delivery model, integrated team approach and agile DNA, we help our customers define and realize any digital experience consumers have, whether inside or outside the vehicle.