New connected car research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) finds 57% of U.S. broadband households are interested in voice control features for their car, with interest highest among consumers who already own smart speakers or use voice recognition on their smartphones. The research group notes that interest in voice control is particularly high among consumers planning to buy a car soon.

"Roughly one-fourth of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a new vehicle in the next 12 months, and more than 75% of these car shoppers are interested in voice control as a feature," said Kristen Hanich, research analyst, Parks Associates. "The popularity of smart speakers with voice-based assistants is spilling over into the auto industry, and already 5% of car owners have some type of voice control in their car.”

Parks Associates predicts that beyond traditional use cases such as mapping and music control, consumer usage of voice control in the car will closely follow the use cases for voice on smartphones and smart speakers. Currently 21% of U.S. smartphone owners use smartphone voice control to locate the address of a local business, 21% use smartphone voice control to access current weather and forecast information, and one-fifth use voice control via their smartphones to send emails or text messages. These new connected car applications will create new demands for data services that extend to the car.

"As consumer interest in voice control and connected safety features rises, there is a parallel rise in interest in car data plans, preferably bundled with consumers' current mobile data plan," Hanich said. "Consumers are currently limited in their options for data sharing, so there are opportunities for mobile service providers – as well as third-party players – to forge partnerships with automakers and dealers to aggregate billing, improve the onboarding process for car buyers, and enhance the consumer experience overall.”

Additional data from the survey shows:

° 60% of U.S. broadband households planning to buy a car are interested in vehicle connectivity.

° More than 45% of U.S. broadband households with a car less than three years old use an iPhone.

° More than 50% of consumers 18-24 are interested in personal music settings for their car.