Connected car momentum is picking up, said a survey by AT&T and Ericsson.

Half of all drivers surveyed worldwide would switch brands to a comparable brand to get connected car services, said Ericsson and AT&T.

Seventy-two percent of drivers would delay a car purchase by one year to buy a car with connected car services from their preferred brand, said the survey done in the United States, Germany, Brazil, Japan and China — by Ipsos in July and August 2014 — and released by AT&T Drive Studio and Ericsson.

Almost two-thirds of drivers surveyed after learning about connected car services consider them an important feature in their next car.

Sixty-seven percent of U.S. drivers indicated they would probably or definitely buy connectivity or Wi-Fi service if available in their car.

Customers’ awareness of connected car services is high with six features scoring 50 percent or higher.

Roadside Assistance (74 percent); Navigation and Real-time Traffic (72 percent); Remote Start (71 percent); Streaming Music (70 percent); Usage-based Insurance Tracking (52 percent) and Wi-Fi Hotspot (50 percent) are the six features.

Arun Bhikshesvaran, CMO of Ericsson, said: “What we are seeing in this data is a clear signal that connected car features and services are becoming an important factor in a consumer’s purchase decision.”

AT&T connected car data plan for Audi

Meanwhile, AT&T will provide owners of 2015 Audi A3, S3 and Q3 models equipped with Audi connect the option of adding their connected cars to an AT&T Mobile Share Value data plan from October 1.

AT&T Mobile Share Value Plan enables customers to purchase a monthly allotment of data to share among their connected devices, including the Audi premium compact and crossover models equipped with Audi connect. The access charge is $10 a month to add a vehicle to a Mobile Share Value plan, which is the same price that AT&T charges to add a tablet to an existing plan.

Also starting on October 1, AT&T will launch a monthly data plan at $20 per month for 1 GB data to 2015 Audi A3, S3 and Q3 models. The new plan is for customers who are not eligible for the Mobile Share Value data plan customers can access 1 GB of data per month.

Pix source: Audi

Baburajan K
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