It's ‘do-or-die time’ to plan for open platforms

The auto industry needs to open its eyes to open-platform opportunities, warns a European information-systems academic- and the industry looks to respond.

Prof. Ola Henfridsson has a curt warning for the European motor industry: “It must accept that cars have to become open platforms for digital technology.”

Henfridsson is Professor of Information Systems and Management at U.K.'s University of Warwick Business School, a top provider of finance and business research and education. He believes that the open-platform car is coming: “Just as the smartphone has become a platform whereby users can download any apps they want and connect to the Cloud, so the car could become a giant mobile version of today's phone capabilities. Non-automotive companies such as Google and Microsoft are increasingly taking parts of the market.”