860,000 people around the world have the internet in their cars… but that figure will rise to around 55 million by 2016, according to a report from iSuppli Corp. The USA is the leading country for in-car internet access; this year's 530,000 users are expected to become 28 million in 2016. 91% of in-car connections are currently connected via mobile phone; a figure that's expected to fall to 69% by 2016 as built-in ('embedded') technology becomes more popular.
iSuppli says in-car mobile internet access is being used to provide entertainment and information services at the moment, although in the future cars could communicate with each other to report traffic flow and reduce congestion. [iSuppli Market Watch]