How M2M will be making your day to day easier before you know it

If you’re here, it’s more than likely you know a fair amount about M2M. However, ask anyone outside of the industry what machine-to-machine actually is and they may have no idea, let alone know that this technology has already made its way into their everyday lives. If this is your case, here’s a look at how M2M will be making your day to day easier before you know it.

Let’s start the M2M adventure on your daily commute to work on public transport. Your everyday bus stop is a smart object integrated in an infrastructure of many other smart objects, which provide your city with intelligence. How else would it be possible to know the estimated time of arrival of your next bus whilst waiting at the stop? In some cities, information is shared between bus and subway systems enabling transport authorities to react efficiently to overcrowding. 

Perhaps you are victim of rush hour traffic. You’ll be happy to know that some traffic control centers already have sensors buried under main roads to measure the volume of traffic in real time and get that information to you before you decide on taking the same route to work.
Your car itself will be enhanced by M2M (industrial router) technology. For instance, eCall will be deployed in every new car by 2015. This device will automatically dial 112 in the event of a serious traffic accident as well as wirelessly sending airbag deployment, impact sensor information and GPS coordinates to the local emergency centre.

M2M has also enabled insurance companies to develop tailored policies for each of their clients by monitoring their driving performance. Keeping in mind you are a good driver, this could benefit you by paying for how you drive and not for other drivers’ risks. On a very unfortunate day, you may find your car isn’t where you swear to have parked it. Insurance telematics will surely brighten up your day by locating your vehicle in case of theft. 

Throughout the day, you’ll be getting your wallet out to pay for all sorts of different products and services, be it a taxi fare, your morning coffee, or an evening meal. However, thick and heavy wallets will be a thing of the past as soon as the mobile banking frenzy settles down into our day to day norm. Mobile applications can hold our payment and loyalty card details which transform our phones into digital wallets. This allows us to pay with our credit cards just by swiping our mobiles at the NFC machine.

M2M will also be able to put your mind at rest from worrying about your elderly loved ones. The number of elderly people is steadily increasing, but emerging tracking solutions are suitable for protecting the elderly and people with health problems. This includes remotely checking their health condition and sending an alarm signal in case of any sudden health scare.

As you can see, machine to machine technology is certainly taking off more than you may have expected. The Internet of Things is a revolution which has already commenced and will form part of your not so distant future.