Internet of Vehicles

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a distributed network that supports the use of data created by connected cars and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). An important goal of the IoV is to allow vehicles to communicate in real time with their human drivers, pedestrians, other vehicles, roadside infrastructure and fleet management systems.

The IoV supports five types of network communication:

Intra-Vehicle systems that monitor the vehicle's internal performance through On Board Units (OBUs).

Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) systems that support the wireless exchange of information about the speed and position of surrounding vehicles.

Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) systems that support the wireless exchange of information between a vehicle and supporting roadside units (RSUs).

Vehicle to Cloud (V2C) systems that allow the vehicle to access additional information from the internet through application program interfaces (APIs).

Vehicle to Pedestrian (V2P) systems that support awareness of Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) such as pedestrians and cyclists.

When discussed in the context of 5G and intelligent transport systems (ITS), the five types of networks mentioned above are sometimes referred to as Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communication.

Future of the IoV

According to a recent report by Allied Market Research, the global IoV market is expected to be over $200 billion by 2024 and several auto manufacturers, including BMW and Daimler, have announced programs to develop a platform that will connect IoV services like route management and smart parking with onboard infotainment centers.

Information technology (IT) vendors that are currently working with manufacturers and governing organizations to help build the Internet of Vehicles include Apple, Cisco, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and SAP.