Wireless charging will hit 50 million vehicles by 2020 and “revolutionise” the automotive market, a new report has claimed.
According to a new study by Juniper Research, the ability to charge a device in-car will open up a plethora of new vehicle applications, including on-board audio streaming and automatic cockpit customisation.
Context-specific notification filtering is another service Juniper said would be made possible thanks to the constant power supply enabled through wireless charging.
The research firm said this will allow car manufacturers to provide software-based services by streaming notifications to a car’s dashboard from a smartphone, rather than needing to keep a vehicle’s on-board firmware and hardware updated.
According to Juniper, only around four million vehicles currently offer in-built wireless charging systems.
Juniper added the lack of an established standard for the technology meant manufacturers were hesitant to adopt it. However, it said phones like Samsung’s Galaxy S6, which offers built-in support for wireless charging, were beginning to change the situation.
The research house also predicts big things for the technology within the home.
James Moar, who wrote the report, said: “For wireless charging to truly succeed, carriers and phone retailers need to provide consumers with an option for wireless chargers supplied with new devices. The technology will not take off if it remains a $30+ additional purchase.
“This is why the automotive market is so important; if the technology is provided as standard in cars, consumers can appreciate the benefits without feeling like it’s a risky or unnecessary additional purchase.”