Solutions for the Automotive Industry

Critical Road Weather Conditions

High winds and strong gusts are hazardous to tall vehicles, such as trucks and vans. Transportation companies, as well as highway management authorities, are using Meteomatics' API to improve safety and protect lives.

Fog is also a significant hazard for the automotive industry. Often, fog leads to long delays as drivers have to reduce their speed. In addition, due to poor visibility in fog, accidents often occur, bringing the road network to a complete standstill.

Rain, snow, sleet, and ice can lead to slippery conditions, while lightning can strike vehicles and trees along the roadway, both of which can cause deadly accidents.

The downscaling performed by Meteomatics API to factor in local topography allows us to provide hyperlocal forecasts for each query at up to 90 meter horizontal resolution. This gives users very accurate wind forecasts and weather alerts. Thanks to our granular and up-to-date data, our forecasts are critical to better understanding weather-related traffic disruptions, such as fog.

Users of the Meteomatics API can request precipitation and lightning data in real-time, at up to 5-minute time increments, and with incredible detail. To enable easy data visualization and mapping, Meteomatics API also supports Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Map Feature (WMF) queries, all through a single API endpoint.

Calculate Electric Vehicle Battery Range

Batteries can operate over a wide range of temperatures, but special care must be taken when charging as extreme cold and high heat can reduce charge efficiency, which varies by battery type. Through accurate weather forecasts, you can avoid charging in sub-zero temperatures, for example.

This gives users and manufacturers more confidence in accurately predicting battery range and can help the industry and users overcome range anxiety." With detailed and up-to-date data, we support the automotive industry in continuously improving the customer experience, which is crucial in the shift from combustion engines to a more sustainable, battery-powered future.

Onboard Computer Systems

Modern cars are becoming increasingly digitalized through onboard computers, which measure not only engine performance and other technical variables, but also the temperature outside the vehicle. This is used to optimally control vehicle systems such as climate control and to provide information for drivers, such as warnings of hazardous weather on the road ahead.

Over the past decade, Meteomatics has provided accurate real-time data and forecasts directly to onboard computers of car manufacturers. Our partners are extremely satisfied with the ability to simply query current weather conditions (nowcast and forecasts) for any location in the world and quickly ingest Meteomatics data into their existing data infrastructures.

Increase Sustainability

Because of the impact of fossil fuels on the environment, the automotive industry is one of the prominent participants in the race to halt the climate changes predicted for this century. That’s why most companies in the industry are investing in electric vehicles. But that’s not the only way the sector has been acting.

In addition to supporting the development of electric vehicles, Meteomatics also helps companies reduce their CO2 emissions from their facilities at the operations level. With our weather data, they can better plan the energy consumption of their plants, thus contributing to the conservation of the environment.

Support the Development of Autonomous Vehicles

The Meteomatics API supports some of the automotive industry's best-known brands with accurate, hyperlocal weather forecasts to determine weather impacts on the vehicle and its systems such as onboard LIDAR, radar and camera systems. These are continually monitoring the external environment to inform the autopilot’s decision making processes, so having highly precise and accurate weather forecasts for the planned route is paramount.

As a disruptor in the weather market, Meteomatics always looks to help its partners and customers innovate. Meteomatics weather API provides forecast and historic data for hundreds of parameters to improve deep learning techniques and understand weather impacts on vehicle decision-making and performance.

Inform and Improve Predictive Maintenance

The lifespan of many vehicle components, such as air filters, is affected by the weather or particles in the atmosphere. Via the Meteomatics Forecast Engine, the Meteomatics' API provides industry-specific derived parameters to help manufacturers better predict for how long a component can be used. Working with appropriate data will allow you to provide the best possible customer experience by informing about pending maintenance of the vehicles you manufacture or the parts you supply.