TRENDING: Giving Food Delivery A Drone-Powered Lift

While there’s growing interest in Intelligence of Things (IoT) adoption among such industries as mining, maritime and transportation, many businesses don’t know how to properly secure the tech against attacks. That issue is receiving growing attention lately, as researchers reveal more and more security strategy shortcomings and exploitable weaknesses.

Emerging issues include a recent report of almost 500 million devices made vulnerable due to a decade-old security flaw, as well as recently discovered weaknesses in a major tech provider’s smart home hub. Keeping consumer and business IoT tech secure increasingly requires constant vigilance, which is challenging with the proliferation of IoT applications.

Despite security concerns, the potential advantages of connected devices are being seen — and seized upon — in a variety of sectors. In the August Intelligence of Things Tracker, PYMNTS explores the latest efforts to secure and expand IoT.

Around The IoT World

Companies in a recent global study expressed eagerness to use IoT, while also noting that they grapple with securing large-scale deployment. Nearly 56 percent of businesses report that they need to boost their cybersecurity to support such deployment. Even so, the report predicts that IoT will enable businesses to increase their annual revenues by about 10 percent over five years by unlocking efficiencies and greater automation.

However, despite networks and businesses’ growing adoption of IoT technology, there are some sectors where barriers to greater IoT implementation remain. Widespread use of self-driving cars, for one, may not be safely feasible for a long time, if recent tests of automated-driving systems are any indication.

After testing several top automated-driving systems used to support human drivers, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found a number of areas where the systems fall short of properly guiding the vehicle. These include issues regarding staying in the proper lane and following the selected route.

Drone-Delivered Dinner

While IoT tech may be struggling to take off on the road, hopes are high for IoT in the sky.

Restaurants want faster, cheaper ways to get takeout meals to consumers. When they have to rely on delivering food by car, that means their delivery could get held up in traffic or slowed down by complicated intersections and winding roads. Some restaurants in Holly Springs, NC, however, are piloting a new solution: delivery by drone.

In this month’s feature story, PYMNTS caught up with Yariv Bash, CEO of drone delivery company Flytrex, and Basil Yap, head of Unmanned Aircraft Systems for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, to discuss how commercial drone delivery services can enable restaurants to provide more deliveries per hour and serve customers outside their traditional delivery zones. Plus, officials explain how they expect drone deliveries to expand and impact sectors beyond the food industry.

To read the full story, download the Tracker.

About The Tracker

The Intelligence of Things Tracker showcases companies that are leading the way in all aspects of the Intelligence of Things. Every month, the Tracker looks at what these companies are doing across the ecosystem and in several categories, including Personal, Home, Retail, Transportation, Wearable, Mobile, Infrastructure, Data and more.