Carmakers gear up to transform vehicles into full-service tools

New York

CARS in the next few years will be able to find the fastest route for the morning commute as well as order coffee, pay for it and guide the driver to pick it up.

This transformation of the car into a full-service mobile device adds up to a potential goldmine. Revenue from the data streams and connectivity components could become a 180 billion euro (S$268.3 billion) market by 2020, McKinsey & Co estimated. That is a rich target for Apple Inc and Google Inc, and carmakers are fighting for a claim as well.