=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2025/paper_ddds_1
|storemode=property
|title=Digital Vehicle Ecosystems and New Business Model: An Overview of Digitalization Perspectives
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2025/paper_ddds_1.pdf
|volume=Vol-2025
|authors=Christian Kaiser,Alexander Stocker,Gianluigi Viscusi
}}
==Digital Vehicle Ecosystems and New Business Model: An Overview of Digitalization Perspectives==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2025/paper_ddds_1.pdf
Digital Vehicle Ecosystems and New Business Models:
An Overview of Digitalization Perspectives
Christian Kaiser Alexander Stocker Gianluigi Viscusi
Virtual Vehicle Research Center Virtual Vehicle Research Center École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Austria Austria (EPFL)
christian.kaiser@v2c2.at alexander.stocker@v2c2.at Switzerland
gianluigi.viscusi@epfl.ch
1 from heart bpm value and GPS positions if a sport activity is
ABSTRACT performed), which can be transferred to vehicles, too. As
The ongoing digitalization of passenger vehicles entails a vehicles capture sensory data about themselves and their
rearrangement of stakeholder power relations within the environment during operation and thereby reveal how they are
automotive industry. A bunch of innovation-friendly IT start-ups used by a driver, they can become ‘Quantified Vehicles’ [44].
- the majority of them from outside Europe - has already put Quantified vehicles represent one key result of digitalization in
energy into the development of novel quantified vehicle services the automotive industry, where incumbents have to face a key
for various beneficiaries, including drivers as well as third set of competing systemic challenges spanning from innovation
parties, challenging the traditional role of vehicle manufacturers. capability, focus, and governance. In particular, digitalization has
They gather data on how vehicles are used and offer digital enabled digital entrepreneurship [36] providing less bounded
products and services exploiting this data. Thereby new business entrepreneurial processes and outcomes and less predefinition in
models have been created within the automotive industry, entrepreneurial agency, as shown also by the rising number of
causing an interesting power struggle between the various start-ups focusing on quantified vehicles [24,45].
stakeholders. This paper provides a short overview on the role of Considering the development process of successful business
the digitalization phenomenon in general, the impact of models based on exploiting vehicle operation data, there is
digitalization in the automotive domain through quantified currently a friendly competition between the major players from
vehicle start-ups and new business models, as well as a brief Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry
investigation of the position of vehicle manufacturers and their against the vehicle manufacturers on the supremacy of digital
digital service strategies – all of them concluded in a comparison ecosystems. ICT start-ups have already successfully transferred
of value creation for business model elements. the quantified-self [37,47] phenomenon to vehicles and have
launched apps and services to generate a whole new market,
CCS CONCEPTS while vehicle manufacturers are currently in the transition
• Social and professional topics → Professional topics • process from vehicle manufacturers towards integrated mobility
Computing and business; Automation; Economic impact and data service providers [24]. Thus, the digital ecosystem for
the incumbents and start-ups, which are competing in the
KEYWORDS quantified vehicles market, have to consider industry
transformation in general, impacting on the overall digital
Digital Vehicle, Quantified Vehicle Services, Vehicle Generated
information assets available as well as on the sustainability of
Data, Connected Vehicle, Business Models, Digital Business
business models.
Innovation
This paper aims to explore different approaches on developing
platform oriented and sustainable business models for the
1 Introduction occupation of digital services, probably the most lucrative
Digitalization is an important driver of service and business components in the future automotive industry, between the
model innovation in the vehicle domain. Digitalization incumbent vehicle manufacturers and the emerging tech start-
challenges are currently often subsumed under the more popular ups. In particular, this paper aims to identify the main actors and
term ‘connected vehicles’. Taking a look on digital services and roles in emerging digital ecosystems of vehicle usage data
mobile applications, it emerges that connecting vehicles closer to platforms and their contribution to eventually define an
their human drivers is an increasingly requested topic of information infrastructure for an automotive industry centered
research. Such include e.g. the detection of behavioral patterns around ‘quantified vehicles’.
from data collected during self-tracking activities (e.g. conclude After this introduction, the paper will provide a summary on
digitalization as well as its implications for the automotive
Platform Economy & Business Models workshop at i-KNOW ’17 October 11–12, 2017, domain ranging in Section 2, whereas Section 3 outlines the
Graz, Austria
Copyright © 2017 for this paper by its authors. Copying permitted for applied research approach. Section 4 discusses relevant digital
private and academic purposes. challenges of vehicle manufacturers and the increased
i-KNOW’17, October 2017, Graz, Austria C. Kaiser et al.
competition on the way to digital services including recent are currently in the transition process from vehicle
activities within the startup ecosystem. Section 5 concludes with manufacturers towards integrated mobility and data service
an outlook and a classification of value drivers and business providers [24,45]. Yet, the digital ecosystem for the incumbents
model elements for each stakeholder investigated in this paper. and start-ups competing in the quantified vehicles market have
to consider another industry transformation, impacting on the
2 Background and Motivations on Digitalization overall digital information asset available as well as the
sustainability of business models.
Digitalization is a sociotechnical process that leverages the
At the state of the art, the need to build on an appropriate ICT
technical process of the encoding of analog information in a
infrastructure, the open system integration of the energy
digital format (digitizing) applied to broader social and
landscape led to its definition as “Internet of Energy” [5,27]. As a
institutional contexts, transforming their sociotechnical
consequence of the “Internet” metaphor, the energy related
structures, thus rendering digital technologies infrastructural
challenges and concerns have been alternatively interpreted as a
[48,58]. Furthermore, digitalization depends and results in digital
consequence of lack of information “to enable and motivate
artefacts characterized by attributes such as editability,
economic and behaviorally driven solutions” [55]. Consequently,
interactivity, reprogrammability / openness, distributedness [25],
“energy informatics” (EI) has emerged as a new field within
also implying a shift in product design moving from modularity
information systems (IS) research to analyze, design, and
to generativity [29,56,57].
implement systems increasing the efficiency of energy demand
Quantified vehicles represent one of the key results of
and supply infrastructure [55]. According to Dedrick [16]
digitalization in the automotive industry, where incumbents
researchers have framed the impacts of IT on the environment as
have to face a key set of competing concerns systematically
first, second, and third-order effects:
interrelated as shown by Svahn et al. [46] through the case of
Volvo: innovation capability (existing versus requisite), First-order effects: direct impacts from IT hardware
innovation focus (product versus process), innovation during the product lifecycle, including production, use
collaboration (internal versus external), and innovation and disposal of computer equipment.
governance (control versus flexibility). In particular, it is worth Second-order effects: impacts of ICTs on other processes
noting that from a strategy perspective, the digitalization such as transportation or industrial production,
enforces internetworking to be considered as “those business influencing their environmental impact.
processes/activities conducted or mediated online by and Third-order effects: are longer term and more dynamic
between employees, customers, suppliers and partners of firms, impacts, occurring when widespread use of ICTs leads
using internet-based technologies accessed through internet- to changes in lifestyles and economic structures.
based infrastructures.” [15:224]. Besides incumbent’s
digitalization enabled by digital entrepreneurship providing less Third order effects are relevant when considering the increased
bounded entrepreneurial processes and outcomes and less use of social media transformative potential for green IS on the
predefinition in entrepreneurial agency [36], as shown also in demand side, encouraging better practices reducing the burden
the case of the specific industry, we consider a rising number of on the environment such as, e.g., the emerging carpooling and
start-ups focusing on quantified vehicles. ridesharing applications impact on transportation coupled with
Taking these issues into account, the role of information and its the Internet of things [30]. According to Malhotra et al. [30] this
value are a central challenge in the competitive scenarios two- way, sensor-driven communication is blurring the
emerging from digitalization as well. Consequently a key issue is boundaries between the production side and the demand side.
related to evaluation of the digital information asset of a Furthermore, EI and IS and interdisciplinary strategies for
company as well as its information capacity defined as the quantified vehicles may provide models to assess the value of
current stock of understandings informed by a given installed information, in particular the social value of related open data,
base [51]. The key questions are: What data do I have? How is the adopting classification frameworks such as the one proposed by
quality of data? Can I exploit it in their full potential? What can I Viscusi et al. [53].
infer from it given my current systems? According to Viscusi & Over the last twenty years, actually after the massive access to
Batini [51] information capacity represents the potential of a the Internet and the World Wide Web, the interest in the
digital information asset defined and evaluated independently strategy concept of business model has grown, thus becoming a
from its usage, determining not only its economic value, but also key element for competing in markets characterized by extensive
the enabling capabilities. use of ICTs and currently transformed by digitalization. In
Considering the development process of successful business general terms a business model describes the rationale of how an
models based on exploiting vehicle data, there is a competition organization creates, delivers, and captures value [39:14].
between the major players from ICT industry against the vehicle However business model is a multifaceted concept, still raising
manufacturers on the supremacy of digital ecosystems. ICT debate in academia as to its definition, Massa et al. [32] provided
start-ups have already started to apply the quantified-self a systematic view on the different perspectives pointing out that
phenomenon to vehicles and have and launched apps and business models can be considered as i) attributes of real firms
services to generate a new market, while vehicle manufacturers (how firms do business), ii) cognitive/linguistic schema (how the
way firms do business is interpreted by organizational members)
2
Digital Vehicle Ecosystems and New Business Models:
i-KNOW’17, October 2017, Graz, Austria
An Overview of Digitalization Perspectives
and iii) formal conceptual representations/descriptions of the understanding the different ways the various actors can follow
former two issues. As for formal/ conceptual to innovate their business models; in particular, as pointed out
representations/descriptions, Al-Debei & Avison [2] identified by Massa & Tucci [31:424], business model design in newly
four key dimensions of a business model: value proposition, value formed organizations, which refers to their “entrepreneurial
architecture, value network, value finance. Whereas as for activity of creating, implementing and validating a business
business models as attributes of real firms it is worth model”, and business model reconfiguration in incumbent firms,
mentioning, especially for the case we consider of automotive encompassing the reconfiguration and eventual acquisition of
industry and quantified vehicles, the definition by Zott & Amit organizational resources to change an existing business model.
[59], who conceptualize a business model as “a system of
interdependent activities that transcends the focal firm and spans 3 Research Approach
its boundaries. The activity system enables the firm, in concert with
This paper is aimed to provide an overview of innovative ICT
its partners, to create value and also to appropriate a share of that
start-ups towards establishing new services and sustainable
value”[59:216]. This definition is particularly useful for
business models. Besides that, selected digitalization initiatives
understanding business models of companies interested in
of German and Italian vehicle manufactures are analyzed. The
quantified vehicles when linked to the above concept of
authors conducted a lightweight online market research
internetworking and current pervasiveness and strategic
approach analyzing information available on the Web. They
relevance of digital platforms [17,18,40,57].
used a combination of the terms car, vehicle, connected,
As argued by Nambisan [35:217], IT can act as either an operand
quantified, start-up and vehicle in search engines to capture the
resource “(often tangible and static) that an actor acts on to
current developments in the start-up domain.
obtain support for executing a task”, or as an operant resource
After having identified major quantified vehicle start-ups, two
“(often intangible and dynamic) that act on other resources to
authors studied the start-up websites in detail to find out more
produce effects”. Accordingly, in a case a digital platform can be
about their visions and goals as well as about their business
considered an enabler of innovation processes and outcomes;
models, products and services. Two out of the three authors
whereas, in the other case, it acts as a trigger, informing rather
reviewed the websites of all start-ups and discussed their
than being informed by the users. Considering the automotive
knowledge with the third author afterwards to come to a
sectors and especially quantified vehicles, despite the “analysing”
common understanding. The information was then validated in
stance of the main market players, a set of traditional and new 2
discussions within the AEGIS project consortium as well.
business models can be applied [44], in particular the
Furthermore the authors used crunchbase.com to capture
infomediary one [1,41] can be adopted under a utility
additional meta-information on business and funding, where the
perspective [42] and extended from data collection for, e.g.,
authors revealed interesting facts on investments into tech start-
marketing purpose to data useful for social value, as capability
ups as well as of strategic partnerships.
and functionings they enable [52,53], and finally for
As for the manufacturers for the countries considered, the
sustainability issues. Besides environmental and societal issues,
authors carried out a market research on the websites of
business sustainability refers to “business models and managerial
industry organizations, press news, and magazines, apart from
decisions that create value over the short, medium, and long
policy documents from European Union organizations. They
terms, based on mutually beneficial interactions between the
especially paid attention to review the current digital services of
company’s value chain and the social and environmental
vehicle manufacturers by taking into account the content on the
systems on which it depends” [28:18]. Furthermore, according to
various product websites, which is expected to be up to date.
Boons & Lüdeke-Freund [14:14] a business model perspective
may contribute to a sustainable innovation agenda to overcome
internal and external barriers. Also, Schaltegger et al. [43:6]
4 Results: Digitalization in the Automotive Industry
points out that a business model for sustainability “helps
4.1 Overview
describing, analyzing, managing, and communicating (i) a
company’s sustainable value proposition to its customers, and all Digitally-enhanced driving is an emerging topic, which can be
other stakeholders, (ii) how it creates and delivers this value, (iii) counted to the heavily used umbrella terms ‘connected
and how it captures economic value while maintaining or cars’/’connected vehicles’ or ‘connected driving’. According to a
regenerating natural, social, and economic capital beyond its definition from PWC [49] in their 2016 connected car report,
organizational boundaries.” Thus, considering the automotive connected vehicles are defined as vehicles that have access to the
industry and the potential transformation enforced by digital Internet and a variety of sensors, and that are thus able to send
innovation and quantified vehicles, business model innovation and receive signals, sense the physical environment around
can open different horizons and path impacting the them, and interact with other vehicles or entities. According to
sustainability of companies, although how they can innovate this report, revenues in the automotive industry (will) shift from
their business models toward greater sustainability still need to hardware to software, from products to services, and from old to
be significantly addressed in research and practice [21:221]. Still,
business model innovation in automotive industry asks for 2
https://www.aegis-bigdata.eu/ last accessed 25.08.2017
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i-KNOW’17, October 2017, Graz, Austria C. Kaiser et al.
new economy. The report highlights four trends changing the Vehicle manufacturers explore ways to exploit the
automotive competition: connected vehicle into the provisioning of a software
radically new technology at low price (increase in vehicle to operating system to serve as a platform for a potential app
infrastructure connectivity (e.g. through 5G), increase in store, as well as into the development of specific apps and
computing speed to operate artificial intelligence for self- services.
driving, evolution of low cost sensors to make a vehicle Automotive suppliers want to establish direct relationships
aware of its surroundings), with the end customers of vehicles produced by vehicle
shorter innovation cycles by new high-tech entrants (non- manufacturers who they supply.
traditional tech companies to offer new services as add-ons Digital players adapt their smartphone platforms to vehicle-
to automobiles and disrupt traditional vehicle value chain, specific customer needs and to integrate their infotainment
Apple to invest $10 billion into an iCar, Google’s self- into vehicle systems.
driving vehicles to drive more than 1,5 million miles, data-
centric business models depend on revenues from ongoing Telecom players see new opportunities in terms of
services and the sale of information), infrastructures, while SIM cards are installed in vehicles.
new mobility concepts and increasingly urban customers Insurers expect new opportunities while e.g. offering
(urban residents to lose interest in owning vehicles, telematics-based coverage options.
millennials in cities to face affordability issues, movements
towards vehicle sharing and ride sharing, expectations of We can expect a huge power struggle between all players –
highly sophisticated levels of connectivity and services), including vehicle manufacturers – on who will reap most value
and from the connected vehicle market. According to the problem
3
evolving regulatory and policy constraints (policy and statement of the AutoMat project coordinated by Volkswagen
regulations to lack behind the technological process, expect Research, the automotive industry has not yet been able to
regulators to respond with laws ensuring the safety of successfully establish an ecosystem for smart driving
driverless vehicles, cities to discourage the use of non- applications equivalent to that of smartphone manufacturers
electric private vehicles). [24]. In its prior problem statement, the AutoMat project
mentions three reasons why vehicle manufacturers are currently
The PWC report further differentiates three main categories for struggling: (i) Brand-specific business approaches dominate, and
technologies and services for connected vehicles: as a consequence there is a lack of brand-independent vehicle
Consumer services such as internet and cloud based digital lifecycle data, (ii) current proprietary vehicle services focus on
services that add to driving experiences, the individual customer, which results in privacy concerns, and
Connected vehicle packages with feature to improve or help few ideas exist how anonymized vehicle data can be used to
managing the vehicle’s operation, and establish other services, and (iii) the implied or required
collaboration between vehicle manufacturers on vehicle data and
Supply-side technologies as underlying systems connecting
the vehicle to the wider world. services is considered risky in terms of competition.
4.2 The Business Models of US Start-ups
Another report from McKinsey [22] on the connected vehicle
trend estimates a global market size of 170 billion EUR to 180 The IT industry of the USA has already lined up a series of tech
billion EUR for vehicle connectivity in 2020. This report foresees start-ups backed by risk capital, reaching more than 20 million
connectivity to trigger a redistribution of automotive revenue USD in some cases, demonstrating how high investors perceive
pools except vehicle operations – based on a survey of 2000 the market value of an ecosystem built on exploiting vehicle data
vehicle buyers. McKinsey perceives human-machine-interface [24]. The majority of start-ups including automatic.com,
(larger screens, multiple screens, innovative UIs, Augmented automile.com, dash.by, moj.io, vin.li, zubie.com to name a few
Reality), vehicle condition data (for offering maintenance and capture vehicle operation data through the On-board diagnostics
insurance services), and dynamic real-time geo-information (OBD) interface of the vehicle which is originally intended to
(oligopoly of TomTom, Here, and Google) to become key control provide a repair technician access to the status of the various
points in this redistribution. This report has identified five vehicle subsystems and diagnostic information.
different groups of vehicle buyers: maxed-out vehicle These connected vehicle start-ups have specialized in capturing,
enthusiasts, integration and entertainment lovers, safe and storing, and analyzing large quantities of vehicle operation data
secure navigators, purists/minimalists and price conscious and offering digital services in smartphone applications to
traditionalists, each group with own preferences and attitudes motivate the driver for sharing valuable driving data. The
towards connectivity-related features. Along with the majority of start-ups are currently capable of automatically
preliminary market analysis a 1st competition analysis is extracting interesting driving events using computational
provided.According to the McKinsey report, the connected intelligence including e.g. hard brakes, hard accelerations or
vehicle ecosystem of the future will be highly influenced by speeding to name a few. These events are hidden in the gathered
additional players including digital players, telecom players and vehicle operation data (time series data) and have to be revealed
insurers.
3
http://automat-project.eu last accessed 17.08.2017
4
Digital Vehicle Ecosystems and New Business Models:
i-KNOW’17, October 2017, Graz, Austria
An Overview of Digitalization Perspectives
through applying big data analytics. Mobile applications running case of a detected accident, roadside assistance, or allowing
on the driver’s smartphone then pull the results from the start- (stolen) vehicle location via mobile apps to name a few.
up’s datacenter and then visualize them on the driver’s Their offer surely is expected to increase, taking also into
smartphone or tablet. The majority of these start-ups provide account new strategic partnerships as well as investments into
mobile apps connected to the OBD interface of the vehicle via connected vehicle start-ups. For instance BMW i Ventures[10]
Bluetooth with very similar functionality to the driver: These heavily invests into tech start-ups aiming to facilitate safer
include for instance means to drive smarter by unlocking driving including e.g. Zendrive.com (providing smartphone-
diagnostics and real-time data and greener by using the app for powered driving analytics including statistics and gamification),
gaining an overview on how driving habits influence fuel or Nauto.com (multi-sensor device to monitor the driving
consumptions (dash.by), make the vehicle smarter by revealing behavior including statistics especially for safety relevant events.
insights of vehicle data and providing driving stats Moreover BMW [11] has recently teamed up with IBM in its
(automatic.com), or delivering real time location, trip history, activity to deploy the vehicle data platform and to enhance it
maintenance alerts, engine diagnostics and driving insights with analytics features [23].
(zubie.com). The following subsections summarize information on USP and
the different services captured from the various product websites
of German vehicle manufacturers and published studies like
Karlsson et al. [26]:
4.3.1 AUDI
“Innovative services and functions that connect drivers with their
Audi and the world: that is Audi connect. myAudi and the Audi
connect services make driving even more relaxing and safer.”
Source: [8]
“The term “Audi connect” covers all applications and
developments that connect Audi vehicles to their drivers, the
internet, transportation infrastructure and other vehicles. Audi is
continually building up its lineup of products and services in this
technical area – with new solutions such as the Audi connect
SIM and the traffic light information service for the US market.”
[9]
4.3.2 BMW
“BMW Connected is a personal mobility assistant which facilitates
everyday mobility and assists drivers in reaching their destinations
relaxed and on time. Mobility-relevant information such as
recommendations for optimal departure times are available
Figure 1: Exemplary snapshots of dasb.by’s mobile app.
remotely via smartphone or smartwatch and can be seamlessly
transferred into the vehicle.”
Another interesting tech-startup recently receiving amongst
BMW ConnectedDrive [12]:
others a huge investment from BMW i Ventures is Zendrive.com
[13]. Zendrive is taking advantage of the sensors built into Remote Services: Locking and unlocking the vehicle,
modern smartphones to capture smartphone sensor data while indicate the vehicle’s location by honking the horn or
driving, and provide cloud-enabled driving analytics aiming at flashing the lights, or on a map in the app. Activate the
safer drivers as well as on safer roads by using gamification vehicle's climate control immediately or on schedule.
features. According to the business information platform Concierge Services: Select travel destinations and get
crunchbase.com a bulk of investors of these start-ups stems from information, connect with call-center agents to look for
the insurance industry, too. nearest services or to book services, addresses sent directly
to navigation system.
4.3 Digital Services of Vehicle Manufacturers Real Time Traffic Information: Information about the
German vehicle manufacturers including AUDI, BMW, current traffic situation, calculate expected delays and
DAIMLER, and VOLKSWAGEN currently offer some recommend detours, on street parking information.
digital/connected services. These services allow for instance Intelligent Emergency Call: If an airbag is deployed, the
accessing some vehicle functions through the drivers’ BMW Call Centre is contacted via an accident-proof
smartphone via mobile apps (e.g. lock/unlock the vehicle), telephone unit permanently installed in the vehicle, precise
vehicles conducting (semi-) automatic calls for emergencies in position of vehicle is communicated including relevant
accidental data.
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i-KNOW’17, October 2017, Graz, Austria C. Kaiser et al.
Digital Services: With BMW CarData a vehicle owner can Automotive industry expertise helping dealers in digital
view the key vehicle data and share them with third parties marketing and sales. This connection to the brand websites is
if required. aimed not only to increase marketing and selling activities, but
also to improve integration with FCA in terms of timely updates
4.3.3 DAIMLER of assets, campaigns, pricing and inventory. However, this
“Mercedes me is your package of innovative services, products and integration, each Dealer Digital Website site, can be customized
lifestyle offers from Mercedes-Benz, Daimler and our cooperation according to the value proposition of the dealer brand [20].
partners – including access to your vehicle via smartphone, of The FCA effort in digitization of customers’ experience and
course.” dealers services represents the basis for moving from connected
Mercedes me' connect services [33,34]: to self-driving vehicles as shown by the partnership with Google
Vehicle Setup: Remote Retrieval of Vehicle Status, Remote and the announcement in the spring of 2016, that they would
Door Locking and Unlocking, Programming of Charge build 100 self- driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrids minivans,
Settings and Pre-Entry Climate Control, Personalization. formerly tested in Arizona, California and Michigan.
Vehicle Monitoring: Geofencing, Vehicle Tracker, Parked Furthermore, Google's self-driving vehicle project, Waymo, has
Vehicle Locator, Route Planning for plug-in hybrid vehicles. announced in April 2017 a program on larger scale in Phoenix
Parking using a smartphone app: Geofencing, Vehicle program using the FCA 500 Pacifica minivans, allowing
Tracker, Parked Vehicle Locator, Route Planning for plug-in hundreds of people in Phoenix applying on Waymo's website to
hybrid vehicles. ride in the vehicles in order to get feedback on the experience.
[7]
4.3.4 VOLKSWAGEN
“VW Car-Net® makes your Volkswagen more like a friend. It gives
advice, helps you along the way, entertains you, and watches out
5 Conclusion
for you. It connects you to the world outside all from the comfort of Digitalization is an unstoppable trend in the automotive industry
your driver’s seat. VW Car-Net is your partner in drive.” in general and increasingly observable by the driver. In modern
VW Car-Net [54]: passenger vehicles, drivers can connect to the cloud, where
Via app-connected drivers can access select smartphone services to drivers and other stakeholders are provided. Thereby
apps right from their dash. three approaches have been discovered:
Guide & Inform Services via SiriusXM® Traffic subscription Brand dependent assistance services, which provide access
and SiriusXM® Travel Link to vehicle functions and services via smartphone. Users
thereby get access to vehicle functions via apps.
4.3.5 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Brand-independent apps and services, often as components
In order to not exclusively look at German vehicle of data ecosystems with several stakeholders, which provide
manufacturers, at the glance some of the main initiatives by the transparency on driving data to be used e.g. in driving
Italian-controlled multinational corporation Fiat Chrysler behavior analytics.
Automobiles (FCA), oriented towards consumers and dealers are Strategic alliances of vehicle manufacturers with ICT firms
discussed in the following. As for consumers, it is worth (e.g. BMW teams up with IBM) to establish services &
mentioning the Uconnect® navigation, entertainment (with business models on how to make value out of vehicle data.
CarPlay [6] to use iPhone while driving by putting his
applications and functions on the vehicle’s built-in display) and As pointed out by Zott & Amit [60] digitalization is strictly
communication system that allows drivers to being connected connected to product innovation and its acting both at business
while driving and paying attention to the road and related events and customers/users side asks for new ideas and business models
[19]. Moreover, apart from CarPlay and iPhone, FCA is design in the case of start-ups and/or reconfiguration for vehicle
collaborating with Google to integrate the Android open-source manufacturer [31]. Following the perspective by Amit and Zott
platform with the Uconnect 8.4-inch connected system [8]. [3,4,59] of business model as an activity system that defines the
Considering now dealers, The FCA Dealer Digital Programme is way a company does business, whose elements are content (the
a collection of tools, process, and support channels aiming at ‘What?’), structure (the ‘How?’), and governance (the ‘Who?’) and
coordinating the action by the different partners and acting in its value drivers are novelty, lock-in, complementarities, and
the digital space in order to enable the engagement of local in- efficiency,
market shoppers to increase selling [20]. Furthermore, the FCA
Dealer Digital Websites are the only sites having traffic directly Table 1 identifies business model’s elements and value drivers
from the brand website’s dealer locator, thus increasing through for start-ups and vehicle manufacturers (termed OEM for
this connection their visibility in search results on the main Original Equipment Manufacturers, in gray) discussed in
search engines such as e.g. Google also through the support of previous Sections. Vehicle manufacturers seem more oriented
FCA Dealer Digital Advertising (DDA) Programme [20], a one- towards governance and the exploitation of complementarities
stop shop for digital advertising campaigns connecting dealers to as value drivers (thus confirming a platform orientation as
Certified Providers with national coverage and extensive digital business model [40]), with Volkswagen targeting novelty for
6
Digital Vehicle Ecosystems and New Business Models:
i-KNOW’17, October 2017, Graz, Austria
An Overview of Digitalization Perspectives
customers through business model innovation at content level [6] Apple. 2017. CarPlay. Retrieved from
https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/available-models/
and FCA using it for efficiency and lock-in at dealers level. As to
[7] Associated Press. Fiat Chrysler, Google Begin Offering Rides in Self-
this issue, the resulting ecosystems show a relevance of digital driving Cars. VOA. Retrieved August 15, 2017 from
(entrants) players as partners and a focus of FCA on the https://www.voanews.com/a/fiat-chrysler-self-driving-
inclusion of dealers as a key part of its value constellation [38] cars/3824581.html
[8] Audi. 2017. Audi Connect. Retrieved August 14, 2017 from
rather than value chain, through internetworking. As for the http://www.audi.com/en/innovation/connect.html
start-ups, the ones considered appears to focus on ‘structure’ as [9] Audi. 2017. Audi connect and infotainment. Retrieved August 14, 2017
business model element by mostly targeting (quite surprisingly) from https://audi-illustrated.com/en/CES-2016/Audi-connect-und-
Infotainment
efficiency as value driver instead of novelty, thus having an [10] BMW. 2017. BMW i Ventures. Retrieved August 14, 2017 from
execution orientation rather than a differentiation one to digital www.bmwiventures.com/portfolio
business [50]. [11] BMW. 2017. BMW Cardata.
[12] BMW. 2017. BMW Connected Drive. Retrieved August 14, 2017 from
https://www.bmw.com/en/topics/fascination-bmw/connected-
Table 1. Business model elements and source of value creation drive/overview.html
for vehicle manufacturers and start-ups in automotive [13] BMW Group. 2014. BMW i Ventures announces strategic investment in
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