Vodafone Group Plc (LON:VOD), AT&T* and Vodafone Business are working together to accelerate Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and innovation in the automotive industry. The companies will bring together their industry-leading expertise to develop superior and consistent connected car solutions and experiences for customers across their combined footprints in North America, Europe and Africa.
Automotive companies face many challenges when deploying connected car solutions across countries. Each market has unique requirements and regulations, and it can be complicated for automakers to work across multiple network operators and vendors.
AT&T and Vodafone Business understand the complexity of global deployments and aim to address these challenges. The goal is to simplify the deployment process, improve operations, deliver innovative solutions, and make the network certification process easier.
“This alliance with Vodafone Business is a natural extension of our existing relationship,” said Chris Penrose, President, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T. “We each have rich experience in connected vehicle technology. By working together, we can innovate faster and help our global customers bring connectivity, entertainment and telematics to more vehicles across our respective footprints.”
“Our work with AT&T will benefit automotive manufacturers and their customers around the world as we simplify processes and provide a consistent experience to accelerate IoT adoption in this fast-moving market,” said Stefano Gastaut, IoT Director, Vodafone Business. “As technology complexity increases, this is the right time to make technology adoption easier for the automotive industry to help them achieve their business outcomes. This is the goal of this alliance.”
The companies will prioritise projects to enhance safety, security and entertainment capabilities. Key areas of focus will be:
· 5G and autonomous vehicle technology
· V2X capabilities (vehicle-to-everything)
· In-vehicle entertainment
· Connected car applications and services
· Global service quality models
· Connected car/ smart cities intersection
AT&T and Vodafone Business each provide connected car services and products for the automotive, fleet and insurance industries. They integrate electronic and telematics systems into complex vehicles, both at the point of manufacture and beyond. Together, the companies bring more than 50 years of experience in the automotive industry. And they collectively work with nearly 50 global automotive brands and connect more than 43 million cars and trucks on the road today.
AT&T and Vodafone also are pioneering the future of transportation and autonomous driving:
· Alliances: AT&T and Vodafone are board members of the 5GAA, a global, cross-industry organisation of companies from the automotive, technology and telecoms industries, working together to develop end-to-end solutions for future vehicular mobility and transportation services.
· V2X: Vodafone has been testing C-V2X (Cellular-vehicle-to-everything) in Germany for the past two years, integrating C-V2X with adaptive cruise control, a driver assistance system that warns the driver about something happening on the road, and also automatically accelerates or brakes in response. These trials pave the way for autonomous driving.
· Testing Facilities: In Germany, Vodafone has opened a 5G lab and test track to work with automotive companies to develop new transport innovations utilising 5G. AT&T is a founding member and exclusive connectivity provider of the American Center for Mobility, an advanced automotive development proving ground near Detroit, Michigan.
· Safety: AT&T is a founding member of Together for Safer Roads – a coalition of global, private sector companies focused on improving road safety and reducing deaths and injuries from car accidents.
About Vodafone
Vodafone Group is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone Group has mobile operations in 25 countries, partners with mobile networks in 44 more, and fixed broadband operations in 19 markets. As of 31 December 2018, Vodafone Group had approximately 700 million mobile customers and 21 million fixed broadband customers, including all of the customers in Vodafone’s joint ventures and associates. For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com.
