Page 205 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

188 6 Mobile Commerce and the Internet of Things

and communications to be automatic or remote-controlled places. The concept was initiated by Google (named Google
based on user preferences or external signals from a util- Chauffeur), and it is becoming a reality, with several states
ity or third party energy service provider. A smart appli- in the USA getting ready to allow it on the road. These cars
ance may utilize a Home Area Network to communicate are electric, and they can create a revolution by their ability
with other devices in the customer’s premise, or other to reduce emissions, accidents, and traffic jams (e.g., see
channels to communicate with utility systems.” Neckermann 2015). Greenough (2015) estimated 10 million
such cars to be on the road in the USA by 2020. Thus far
For more about home automation, see smarthome.com/ these cars are being tested in several cities worldwide.
sh-learning-center-what-can-i-control.html. To see the The cars possess sensor systems that may prevent colli-
various apps used for home control, see smarthome.com/ sion and they can be completely autonomous. (Today, they
android_apps.html. still include a human safety driver.) Among the many imple-
mentation issues are legal issues, cost, privacy invasion, and
more.
Smart Cities Despite these issues, several car manufacturers are ready
to sell such cars soon (e.g., BMW, Mercedes, GM, Tesla, and
The idea of smart cities took off around 2007 when IBM of course—Google). For more information, see Bridges
launched their Smart Planet project and Cisco began its (2015).
Smart Cities and Communities program. The idea is that in
smart cities, digital technologies (mostly mobile-based)
facilitate better public services for citizens, better utilization
of resources, and less negative environmental impact. For SECTION 6.7 REVIEW QUESTIONS
resources, see ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/about-
smart- cities. Townsend (2013) provides a broad historical 1. Define Internet of Things.
look and current coverage of the technologies. In an over- 2. Explain its major components.
view of his book, he provides the following examples: “In 3. What are its major benefits?
Zaragosa, Spain, a ‘citizen card’ can get you on the free city- 4. List the major drivers of IoT.
wide Wi-Fi network, unlock a bike share, check a book out 5. Explain how IoT works (see Figure 6.6).
of the library, and pay for your bus ride home. In New York, 6. Provide some consumer-related applications.
a guerrilla group of citizen-scientists installed sensors 7. Describe smart homes and appliances.
in local sewers to alert you when storm water runoff over- 8. Describe smart cities.
whelms the system, dumping waste into local waterways.” 9. What is a self-driving car?
According to Editors (2015), smart cities will use 1.6 billion
connected things in 2016 (Editors 2015).
In many countries, governments and others (e.g., Google)
are developing smart city applications. For example, India is 6.8 WEARABLE COMPUTING
planning to develop 100 smart cities (see enterpriseinnova- AND SMART GADGETS: WATCHES,
tion.net/article/india-eyes-development-100-smart-cities- FITNESS TRACKERS, AND GLASSES
1301232910).
Note: For many case studies and examples of IoT, see ptc. In this section, we will briefly describe several emerging top-
com/internet-of-things/customer-success, divante.co/blog/ ics related to wireless computing.
internet-e-commerce, Greengard (2016), and Kuntz and
Becker (2015).
Related to smart cities are smart factories (Libelium 2015). Wearable Computing Applications and Devices
In smart cities, one will be able to find connected and self-
driven cars (see Hamblen 2016 and our next section). Wearable computing and devices received a major boost in
2015/2016 due to the expansion of the Internet of Things.
For a comprehensive slide presentation, see Chamberlin
Smart Cars (2014). Wearable computing devices have been used in
industry since the mid-1990s. Typical devices were wireless
Smart cars, also known as driverless cars, robot-driven cars, computers tied to people’s wrists, digital cameras mounted
and autonomous cars are already on the roads in several on the head, mobile devices attached to a belt, and much