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Connected car production will grow from 12.4 million shipments at the end of this year to almost 61 million by 2020, according to the latest research note from analyst house Gartner.

The end of 2015 saw 6.8 million units globally, with 4.68m of those tethered – to a mobile device – and 2.17m embedded. 2017 will however see the turning point where embedded systems will dominate, with 11.1m compared to 9.97m tethered. By 2020, the numbers for embedded and tethered are predicted to be almost 43m and 18m respectively.

“The connected vehicle is the foundation for fundamental opportunities and disruptions in the automotive industry and many other vertical industries,” said James Hines, research director at Gartner. “Connected vehicles will continue to generate new product and service innovations, create new companies, enable new value propositions and business models, and introduce the new era of smart mobility, in which the focus of the automotive industry shifts from individual car ownership to a more service-centric view of personal mobility.”

On top of this, Gartner expects future connected car applications will drive a 150% increase in demand for contextual information – including the likes of image detection and geolocation – between now and 2020. “Many automobiles will use image detection as the primary means to identify and classify objects in the vicinity of the vehicle so they can provide more sophisticated responses and even have autonomous control.”

Elsewhere, Gartner expects connected car technologies to create additional opportunities for automotive manufacturers through sales of additional services and feature upgrades, as well as enhanced brand loyalty through personalised customer experiences.