The ultimate guide to 2025’s best connected driving features and trends

Imagine cruising down the highway in a vehicle that effortlessly maintains a safe distance from the car ahead while traffic updates stream directly to your dashboard. As you get closer to home, your in-car assistant prepares it for your arrival, adjusting the thermostat and switching on the lights.

This scenario, seen only in movies just a few years ago, is becoming an everyday reality thanks to advancements in connected driving technology.

By integrating high-speed internet connectivity with advanced sensors and AI, connected vehicles are transforming how we interact with our cars and the road, promising a safer, more efficient and more integrated driving experience.

To gain deeper insight into these innovations, we spoke to Ronak Amin, Global Product Marketing Manager at HERE, who helped us understand which connected driving features are set to define the industry in 2025.

#1: Real-time traffic management

Navigating busy roads is a challenge every driver faces. With real-time traffic management systems, it’s about to get a lot easier.

These systems use live traffic data to provide drivers with the most efficient routes, helping them avoid congestion and reach their destinations faster.

A good example of such a system is HERE Real-Time Traffic, which harnesses real-time data from millions of sources, including sensors and connected vehicles to deliver up-to-the-minute traffic information.

This allows drivers to seamlessly navigate their journeys with intelligent route suggestions and accurate ETA predictions, effortlessly avoiding delays and optimizing travel routes.

#2: Advanced parking solutions

Finding parking in crowded urban areas is quite a nightmare for most drivers.

This is where advanced parking solutions come in. These systems utilize real-time data from sensors and cameras to guide drivers to open spots, significantly reducing the stress and time spent searching for parking.

Leveraging data from sources such as sensors, parking meters and connected vehicles can minimize the frustration of looking for a free spot. It's good for the environment too, since less circling means reduced congestion and emissions in densely populated areas.

#3: Electric vehicle charge points

With the rise of electric vehicles, having information about the access and availability of charge points is crucial.

EV charge point data in vehicle navigation systems make it easy for drivers to find nearby charging stations and have real-time information on their availability and charging speed.

HERE EV Charge Points is a service that provides information on nearby charging stations and assesses their availability directly through the navigation systems, thanks to data from a wide network of charging providers that ensure real-time accuracy in waiting times.

This knowledge helps drivers plan routes efficiently with all the necessary charging stops.

And the best part? It reduces the biggest barrier to EV adoption — range anxiety, contributing to a stress-free experience for electric vehicle owners.

#4: Advanced driver assistance systems

When it comes to driving, safety is always a priority. This is why advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are crucial for the future of connected driving.

Thanks to a combination of sensors, cameras and radars, these systems provide real-time feedback and assistance to the driver to reduce human error and respond to various driving conditions.

Features like automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance and blind-spot monitoring help prevent accidents by intervening or alerting the driver to potential dangers.

HERE ADAS delivers critical road infrastructure information, including speed limits, road curvature and slope, enabling vehicles to anticipate changes in driving conditions by understanding the road ahead.

These capabilities are especially impactful when visualized. In such a situation, the vehicle's ADAS can be rendered onto the map, providing a visual representation to the driver without causing any distraction.

This helps carmakers maintain high safety standards and improve overall driving confidence on the roads.

#5: Hands-free connectivity

Staying connected while driving is essential, but it should never come at the cost of safety.

Hands-free connectivity allows drivers to make calls, send messages and control navigation through voice commands. This feature minimizes distractions and keeps the driver’s attention on the road, ensuring a safer driving experience.

It's designed to cover everything from making calls and sending messages to controlling media playback and navigation systems, all while minimizing driver distraction.

#6: Immersive navigation experiences

The era of static map displays on dashboards is finally behind us.

With immersive navigation experiences, drivers can view augmented reality overlays on their windshield or heads-up display. This technology provides turn-by-turn directions, points of interest, and even live traffic updates to increase situational awareness and make navigation intuitive.

It enriches the driving journey by providing an intuitive and safer way to navigate through the integration of AR technology, ensuring that drivers remain informed and engaged with their surroundings and merging digital guidance with the physical world.

#7: Customizable in-car settings

Every driver has unique preferences, and customizable in-car settings ensure a personalized driving experience.

"Customized in-car experiences will soon become standard", shared Amin. From seat positions to climate control and infotainment preferences, drivers can tailor their vehicle settings to match their comfort.

A solution that offers a personalized experience through real-time data delivery is HERE Navigation. It provides accurate traffic updates and essential data to adjust driving routes and information to match changing road conditions and preferences.

Thanks to its ability to easily run on different hardware platforms, HNAV is quickly becoming the navigation software of choice amongst OEM customers who are looking for a truly differentiated experience while maintaining developmental control.

This level of personalization ensures that each user's journey adapts to user needs, making the experience much more comfortable and enjoyable.

#8: Autonomous driving integration

Although fully autonomous vehicles are still in development, partially autonomous driving features are already transforming how we drive. These features allow vehicles to take control under specific conditions, such as highway driving or during traffic jams.

HERE HD Live Map supports autonomous vehicles by providing dynamic, high-definition map data that enables a deeper understanding of the road environment, providing precise lane-level data, speed limits and real-time road changes so vehicles can effectively plan and navigate complex scenarios.

The live updating mechanism allows autonomous systems to constantly adjust to evolving road conditions, increasing both safety and efficiency and laying the groundwork for smarter, more reliable vehicles as we approach a future where full autonomy becomes a reality.

The outlook

The innovations in connected driving are turning vehicles into smart companions that make driving safer, more efficient and enjoyable.

Ranking these features poses a challenge, as each one is crucial to the future development of connected driving.

But as technology continues to advance, we can expect to see even more innovative solutions in the industry, ultimately creating a seamless and integrated experience on the road.