USA: Verizon ramp-up in car LTE connectivity.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

USA: Verizon ramp-up in car LTE connectivity.

Verizon's making a pointed effort to try and ramp up in-car LTE connectivity. Last Friday Verizon quietly announced that the company would be spending $612 million to acquire Hughes Telematics, a company that focuses on in-car computer technology. Now Verizon has also announced the creation of the 4G Venture Forum for Connected Cars, a forum spearheaded by Verizon to help make their LTE service the backbone of in-car technology:

BMW, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors and Toyota Motor Sales, Inc. are joining Verizon as the initial members of the Forum. Professor Sanjay Sarma of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also joins the Forum, providing members a link to track important advancements in related academic research. The group will collaborate and explore ways to deliver connectivity to vehicles of all types, by leveraging open standards and discussing ways to accelerate development of the 4G LTE ecosystem across automotive OEMs, suppliers, device manufacturers, application developers and content publishers.

And by "open standards," Verizon means standards approved by Verizon that shoves all vendors toward their own LTE technology. Verizon's already long pushed this technology in conjunction with OnStar, but apparently wants to see more dramatic progress in the in-car broadband market, which have stalled due to safety concerns -- and questions as to whether it's actually even needed in the smartphone/mobile hotspot age.

It remains unclear if consumers are on board -- given most users can now turn their smartphone into a mobile hotspot (and more easily updatable GPS system) wherever they go, making in-dash embedded technology less useful. Absent from the lineup of participating companies is the big auto makers, most of whom have their own ideas on this front. Ford, for example, has been playing with the idea of mesh network connectivity for communications and in-car safety network technology.

In Europe Alcatel_Lucent launched a similar program in 2009. http://www.ngconnect.org/program/connected-car.htm

What do you like best about the LTE Connected Car?

"...the tight integration to the web and that when I am in the car I am also, essentially, still at home...virtual mechanic would be incredible. I like ...[the] fact that it is tightly integrated and not simply a collection of add-ons."
– respondent from the United States^*

"...the fact that the car 'does' everything for the driver - scheduling test check,
tele-mechanic, etc."
– respondent from Poland^*

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