Banking on Connected Cars

Post 2 of 4 of the series: The 'Bank of Things'

Banking on Connected Cars

The future is already here with self-driving cars and the race is on globally to full legislate for them to be acceptable. Dubai has set a target of 25% of vehicles to be driverless by 2030. This alone will have huge impact not only to laws, but insurance and jobs. It is easy to see that such automation will be a big factor in predictions that within 25years we could see unemployment reaching 50% in the USA! On a positive front, today 96% of car accidents are caused by human error. However even eliminating a large number of accidents has an impact on jobs in hospitals and for insurance companies.

The connected car is a great example of IOT, compute power + huge array of connected sensors + extensive data collection. Car designers have already moved their focus to car interiors as much as if not more on the exterior as they imagine spaces we can relax or work in. There are already car panels with built in sensors so that a knock or dent is detected and can be reported automatically. Cars may automatically report potholes. Smarter interaction will allow car’s to book themselves in for a service while you work. And manufacturers are already designing boots that can be used to accept parcels while your out – the courier notifies you of their arrival and you open the boot for the delivery or collection remotely via an app.

As cars will become much more interactive what role can Banks provide? Clearly they can allow the car to make payments to pay for tolls and charging (fuel) themselves. Banks could also look to provide accounts dedicated to the car so that a full picture, including servicing and insurance, can be ascertained on the cost of owning a car (personal finance management for car’s).

Some of us may choose never to own a car, and simply use Uber to order a self-driving car on demand. This will create the possibility of “car landlords” – people buying cars to earn money by driving others. Clearly this represents an opportunity for banks in terms of mortgage style loans for “fleets” of cars as an investment.

Last year Santander teamed up with CarZapp to provide car dealership’s the option of providing a car sharing scheme to their customers. Customers of the scheme can pick up and drop off cars as they please from participating dealerships using the App. It’s a very different customer experience than just providing a loan for the car. It enables customers the option of driving different cars rather than just owning one. The scheme was launched in Germany where Santander is already one of the largest car financers in the market. It’s this market share that allowed them to innovate the concept of car sharing using an App.

In Poland you don’t need to got o a branch if you’re a business banking customer, Idea bank has a bank that comes to you! Idea bank is expanding it’s fleet of car’s that have been customised with a built in secure deposit box and ATM. It is possible to order the car to come to you and currently it is driven to the customers location. However it’s easy to see that this is a great candidate for a bank on demand ordered via Uber.

Elsewhere in Canada, Blueshore, looked at connected cars in a very different way. They thought about the passengers and how they may utilise their time. Focusing on wealth management they looked at the possibility of new user interfaces designed specifically for windscreens so that a passenger can review their portfolio whilst being taken to their destination. This allows car journeys to be much more productive.

Initially it may be difficult to think of the role of connected cars in banking beyond payments, but as you can see Banks are not short of imagination already. What is for sure is that there is much more to come and now is the time for banking to think about customer experiences and the connected car.