CES: CES shows connected cars are a stone’s throw away

Las Vegas – German car-maker Mercedes-Benz and smart watch start-up Pebble are planning a collaboration that will send road condition updates, social media and car diagnostics straight to your wrist.

The partnership, set for spring 2014, will enable customers to link the car brand’s Digital DriveStyle app with the Pebble smart watch. Using their Pebble users will be able to check the oil and petrol levels, and ensure their car is locked and hasn’t been broken into.

As always with car-makers, safety is an important consideration. Drivers will be able to set Pebble to vibrate if another user notices an accident on the road ahead. Similarly, people using the system will be able to notify other road users of an accident or safety hazard by tapping their wrists.

‘This is a very safe and convenient way to create a road safety network,’ David Horton, project developer at Mercedes-Benz, tells LS:N Global. ‘Anything that the Digital DriveStyle app can do, you can customise so that you can control it by pressing a single button on the Pebble.’

As devices become more connected, customers will increasingly expect frictionless experiences that are joined up, convenient and customisable.

Visit LS:N Global’s Seed and Insight sections this week for further coverage of International CES.