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In its latest report, analyst house IDC states that global spending on connected vehicles will be USD 29.6 billion, and spending on intelligent transportation systems will be USD 16.5 billion by 2017.

The report, entitled titled “Collaboration Between Automotive OEMs and City Leaders for Implementing Connected Car and Smart City Solutions”, offers a practical guidance to further explore how IT and non-IT leaders in automotive manufacturing and state and local government can collaborate to provide new and improved opportunities and services in urban environments.

It states that the smart city officials need to integrate with new technologies in automobiles for the future Smart Street, as automotive OEMs face an urgency to evolve their product to compete with other transportation options. Both the groups should work hand in hand, especially to better vehicle and street safety, reduce environmental impacts, mitigate urban congestion, evolve automobile design, and create new value-added services for consumers.

Heather Ashton, research manager for IDC’s manufacturing insights arm, and Ruthbea Yesner Clarke, research director for IDC government insights smart cities strategies, said: “Connected cars have reached critical mass, and their interaction with the transportation infrastructure within Smart Cities is ongoing.

“Automotive OEMs and Smart City leaders will need to work closely to ensure the continued development of, and support for, connected car capabilities and services such as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications that will increasingly include autonomous operations,” they added.