Exploring the key services and players in the smart car market

The traditional role of cars as a means of transport is now expected to undergo major changes as a result of the emerging smart car industry, whereby connection to the Internet can not only improve traffic safety by enabling self-driving but also entertain passengers. Under these circumstances, it is important to explore the killer services that are expected to be in high demand by consumers and keystone players in the emerging market. This study identifies the promising services from a consumer's perspective using analytic hierarchy process analysis and examines experts' views on which industries and firms, as keystone players, are expected to provide the competitive killer services in the market. The results show that the service that consumers find the most important is driving assistance, followed by infotainment and Internet of Things hubs. Meanwhile, the experts rank the importance of industrial player as in the order of Information Technology device manufacturers, followed by platform providers, automobile manufacturers, and network providers, while at the company level, the rank is in the order of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, Naver, and SK Telecom, respectively. These findings show that consumers regard smart cars as futuristic vehicles, yet continue to emphasize their conventional value as a means of transport, while the experts expect that among the various industry players, IT companies are most likely to enable the concept of the smart car to become a reality.