One of the most significant examples touted at the time was car-to-smart home solutions.
Well, I think werestillwaiting for this magical time when devices are smart instead of simply connected.
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Whats happened in the space, and why have so few promises failed to translate to action?
Lets explore this further.
SmartThingspartneredwithBMWto control smart homes through the SmartThings app.
Volkswagen and LGpartnered, and Ford joined forces withAmazon.
However, these partnerships have failed to progress into meaningful consumer products.
Andwe can do this already with our mobile phones.
So what happened to the great integration?
In many respects, IoT is a victim of its own success.
Thesmart homemarket is competitive and one of the biggest problems is a lack of interoperability.
Proprietary systems like Nest and Alexa dont interoperate.
This becomes more of a problem with the more devices you add.
This is very different from the promise of seamless IoT connectivity.
Or identify that my car passed the pizza shop on the way home and preheat the oven?
Most devices dont talk to each other inside the home much less between the car and the house.
However, there are some wins.
A comparable service is also available forSubarudrivers.
Its the usual laundry list home lighting, security locks, etc.
There are some shared functionalities available also withIFTTT.
Users can pre-set functions called automations.
Is Mercedes Benz betting big on the smart home?
Beyond my laments, not all is lost.
In October last year,Samsung partnered with Mercedes-Benzto help car owners control their smart homes via their cars.
Using natural language, such as Hey Mercedes, did I forget to turn off my lights at home?
There are also retrofit options like Alarm.comsconnected carplatform that canadjust your thermostat automaticallywhen youre on your way home.
Why does all this matter?
All of this requires stellar interoperability.
Fortunately, theOpen Connectivity Foundation(OCF) work leaves me confident that good things are coming.
We have apps and devices that generate data.
The data generates insights about our past and present actions.
It also makes calculated predictions about the next thing were going to do.
How much of these insights actually serve us, and how much of the value simply goes to advertisers?
Our connected devices know all about us.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin.
