Data: Lifeblood of the Internet of Things

Much has been written about the rise of autonomous vehicles with testing being conducted globally and the increasing number of consumers who are already enjoying the benefits. One of my colleagues, who juggles his time between our office in Cupertino and the vineyard and olive orchard he runs in Sonoma County (Trattore Farms), tells me he's taken full advantage of his Tesla's autopilot feature for his drives. It's not just the hands off driving potential that impresses him though; it's the way that his car, as part of a network of cloud-connected vehicles, is learning as the car documents data points and uploads them to the cloud in real time. So for example, if several Teslas log information at the same GPS point where their driver taps the brakes if their car approaches a dip in the road too fast, the algorithm directing autopilot through that location will automatically update and all the Teslas using autopilot at that location will automatically slow down. I've not had the chance to experience the Tesla autopilot for myself but I'm also seeing the power of data sharing and the IoT with my drone flying.