Cars in India are no longer just mechanical products with software added on; they are fast becoming connected, data-heavy computing platforms. As features like ADAS, connected services, OTA updates, and AI-driven functions move from premium models into the mass market, in-vehicle storage is quietly turning into a foundational technology decision for OEMs.
What follows are some storage innovations that will shape vehicle platforms heading into 2026, not as optional upgrades, but as core design shared considerations by Prasad Sandireddy, Vice President, Product Development Engineering, Sandisk.
Edge Storage Is Becoming Essential for Connected Cars
In 2024, nearly 37% of new passenger vehicles sold in India came with embedded cellular connectivity. That number is expected to rise. However, highways, remote regions, and long intercity routes can suffer from patchy coverage. As a result, relying entirely on the cloud is not practical.
This is where edge storage inside the vehicle becomes critical. It allows key systems to keep running, make local decisions, and respond instantly, even when the network drops. For OEMs building vehicles for Indian driving conditions, robust onboard storage is no longer a nice-to-have, it is a reliability requirement.
NVMe Is Moving from Premium to Practical
NVMe storage in automobiles was once thought to be a high-end feature only seen in flagship ADAS systems or high-end infotainment systems. That is rapidly changing. Every hour, massive amounts of data from cameras, radar, LiDAR, and V2X systems are processed by modern cars. Moreover, this data does not arrive in burst, but continuously, and much of it needs to be accessed as quickly as possible. NVMe-powered storage is becoming more crucial in situations where low latency is crucial.
NVMe SSDs rely on PCIe connections and provide faster read and write speeds with reduced latency. This directly improves ADAS responsiveness, AI inference at the edge, and overall system smoothness. In the near future, NVMe is likely to become standard across mid- to high-segment vehicles, rather than a differentiator.
Software-Defined Vehicles Are Driving Storage Explosion
India’s software-defined vehicle (SDV) market is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade, expanding from USD 2.69 billion in 2025 to over USD 9 billion by 2033. This shift changes how vehicles are built and how value is delivered over time.
Frequent OTA updates, feature improvements, and AI-based optimization are essential to SDVs. Storage that can scale consistently throughout the course of a vehicle’s lifetime becomes a necessity.
According to industry estimates, depending on autonomy levels and feature depth, future cars may require anywhere from 2TB to 19TB of onboard storage by 2030. Scalable storage solutions will put OEMs in a better position for long-term innovation.
Tiered Storage Helps Balance Cost and Performance
Not all data inside a vehicle needs the same performance. Real-time sensor data and safety-critical workloads demand instant access, while logs, diagnostics, and historical data do not. This has led to growing interest in tiered “hot–cold” storage architectures. High-speed NVMe handles latency-sensitive tasks, while more cost-efficient flash storage can be used for long-term retention. For OEMs, this approach offers a practical benefit: better performance without pushing up system costs.
Storage can Help Offer Better Experience
Borrowing from consumer and enterprise storage practices, OEMs are beginning to adopt telemetry-driven storage monitoring. This allows systems to track wear, predict failures, and optimise how data is written and moved over time.
For software-heavy vehicles expected to stay operational for a decade or more, intelligent storage management can help extend service life and reduce unexpected failures, supporting a better ownership experience.
Storage Is Becoming Part of the Compute Stack
With advanced ADAS, AI workloads and autonomous features, storage is a key part of the automobile compute stack. Emerging approaches like computational storage allow certain processing tasks to happen closer to the data itself. This reduces latency and eases the load on central processors. As a result, the system is faster, more responsive, and better prepared for next-generation autonomy.
As cars in India are evolving into data-rich, software-driven platforms, in-vehicle storage is emerging as a quiet but decisive factor in how well these systems are going to perform in the real world. The rise of connected vehicles will steadily increase both the volume and criticality of data that must be stored, accessed, and protected inside the vehicle. For OEMs planning platforms, getting the storage foundation right will be central to delivering connected, upgradable, and future-ready vehicles at scale.
