By Carlos Morales, Global M2M Director, Telefónica Digital (@m2mtelefonica)

20 June 2013: The Connected Car is one of the most exciting innovations we have seen in over a century of automotive development. Bringing the power of connectivity to the car offers incredible opportunities for the consumer, the automotive industry and the mobile industry alike.

Building this industry will not be straightforward, however, as there are a number of challenges ahead and we want to play our part in helping to overcome them.

By bringing together some of the leading players in this market, we wanted to identify these opportunities and challenges to help stimulate the thinking and cross-industry collaboration that will be needed to build this industry and deliver on its enormous potential. Take a look at the Connected Car Industry 2013 report here.

Telefónica Digital plays a leading role as an enabler in the Connected Car market, which forms part of the company’s overall support of – and investment in – the global Machine-to-Machine (M2M) market. From smart cities to smart grids and smart homes (take a look at this video), we believe M2M communications will transform society and business. Above all this will herald the development of a more efficient and sustainable world.

In the M2M market, Telefónica currently provides millions of connections globally. We have deals with several major consumer electronics manufacturers and automotive OEMs. We are also the programme leader for SmartSantander, one of the world’s largest wireless sensor networks for smart city M2M experimentation.

We know that global scale is key for customers so we have taken the lead in forming a global M2M alliance which to date comprises eight leading mobile operators; KPN, NTT DOCOMO, Rogers Communications, SingTel, Telefónica, Telstra, VimpelCom and Etisalat. This alliance was formed to bring the technology to market that will simplify the process of global M2M deployments.

We are also at the forefront of developments in services like fleet management, for instance partnering with Sascar to develop fleet management solutions for light vehicles in Brazil.

In addition, Telefónica has invested in the insurance telematics market, launching a pioneering motor insurance policy with European insurance company Generali Seguros, which calculates the premium according to driving habits.

Through all of this, we can deliver the unique global insight and experience needed to help build the Connected Car market.

However, we understand that Telefónica Digital is operating in a relatively new market. That is why we have brought in experts from the automotive industries who fully understand the automotive OEM’s end customer. Pavan Mathew, our global head of automotive telematics (see a Slideshare from him here), spent eight years at OnStar and prior to that, ten years at General Motors. So we are developing our strategy based on how automotive OEMs look at the market, with the end consumer at the centre.

This report, compiled in association with our partner Machina Research is the first stage in the creation of The Connected Car Leadership Network. The Network will bring together the leading players in the Connected Car industry, through online and offline networking, to enable knowledge sharing, and the true collaboration needed to help this new market flourish.