CES: Millennials Want Enhanced Driving Experience

Car buyers — particularly millennials — are no longer as susceptible to the industry’s traditional marketing tropes of styling, horsepower and handling.

Instead, according to The Hollywood Reporter, they see the car as an extension of their digital lives, and increasingly demand that it mesh seamlessly with their smart phones, tablets and other personal tech.

A Compass Intelligence survey of smart phone-owning drivers released in December concluded that "the primary needs and wants out of technology ... is the enhancement of the driving experience."

The Consumer Electronics Association predicts that sales of factory-installed technologies in cars will reach $11 billion in 2015 as drivers embrace 4G LTE connectivity, which turns a car into a rolling WiFi hotspot, as well as adaptive cruise control, parking assist and collision avoidance and other systems that enhance safety and offer a preview of self-driving cars, which will become increasingly commonplace in the next 10 years.

Apple's Car Play

At CES, start Tuesday, expect to see Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto debut in 2015 production cars. Each allows a driver to plug a smart phone running Apple's iOS or Google's Android operating systems into a car's USB port and control it from the infotainment touch screen. Although consumers are eager to adopt CarPlay and Android Auto, car manufacturers are less than thrilled to share space on their proprietary infotainment systems out of concern that Google and Apple could gain access to the trove of data about a car owner's location, purchases and other personal information.

The duopoly theoretically compels manufacturers to choose one system or the other — Apple has signed up Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar and BMW — but the reality will probably more closely resemble the compromise Hyundai will unveil at CES: an infotainment unit that integrates both the Apple and Android systems.

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