The Phygital Age will enable Automotive companies to drive new revenue streams from Software Services. The Phygital Age is a complex mix of digital and physical touchpoints and user experiences.

Technology innovation comes in waves where some critical new advancements act as enablers for a new wave of innovations –. One such giant new wave is becomming unlocked with the state-of-the-art car connectivity. This is already having a profound effect on how the car as a physical machine is starting to look a lot more like our mobile phone.

In the last decade we have seen the rise of mobile apps. While this has led to a number of new Unicorns, the wave of innovation has laregly stayed disconnected from the physical layer. It was primarily about commercial digital user experience where we are counting the steps needed to make for opening a mobile banking account or perhaps making a purchase in our favorite shopping app. It turns out that removing the friction can be a major enabler of the success. One of the winners of this wave was Uber which in it’s core service significantly simplified the user experience of ordering and paying for taxis. Whilst faced with many challenges, Uber still manages to remain the new standard of how taxis are being called up all around the world. And it remains a very valuable scaled-up company.

Exceptional user experience creates winners. However, user experience is far more then a mobile app. And it is far more then just the digital part of the customer journey when it comes to mobility. It is a complex mix of digital and physical touchpoints and experiences – integrating the best of both worlds in what is reffered as a phygital user expereince. It’s much easier said then done and will require a lot more innovation to get to a mature state, representing a huge opportunity for Car companies that will innovate faster then others

The automotive industry has kept its own path in terms of digitalization for a while. However, the improvements in connectivity have made it possible that also a car can become a digital platform that is acting like a mobile phone or your ipad, for example. And there are a lot of benefits that come from decades of innovation related to mobile devices. Tesla is a great example of a company that decided to fully leverage connectivity coupled by standardized innovation of some core components to accelerate and simplify R&D activities related to infotainment and connected car services. The car is ready to become a mobile device that is seamlessly integrated in our phygital user journey.

Connected car enables a new vision of mobility that will take 10 to 15 years to be fully implemented. It’s about an integrated user experience where the power of digital platforms enables new ways to consume mobility in a form of service, whether it is public transport, privately owned vehicles or emerging robo-taxis. However, this will not be »Uber-like« user experience, where the digital part is separated from a physical layer which is involved in every form of physical mobility. The phygital user experience will remove the frictions in the integrated customer journey and will take into account a wider ecosystem of stakeholders that are needed to make the journey possible, convenient and sustainable