Connecting cars and customers
Build for the future with secure, scalable, and advanced automotive connectivity solutions.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Customers increasingly expect a seamless, continuous connected vehicle experience.
- OEMs must be able to work seamlessly with multiple carriers and MNOs around the world to support customers.
- eSIMs and advanced network management technologies offer the flexibility OEMs need to meet customer demands.
The automotive industry is undergoing immense transformation, driven by cutting-edge advancements in connected cars, electric vehicles (EVs), driver assistance systems, and software-defined vehicles.
To manage these changes while meeting customer expectations of seamless connectivity in the car—and planning for a future of semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles—OEMs will need to work with multiple network partners to create the flexibility needed to manage costs while building customer loyalty.
37% of car buyers would switch car brands for better connectivity.1
Customers demand seamless connectivity.
All cars built today are connected cars. And consumers today expect those car connections to be personalized with their own profiles, preferences, and voice assistants. For consumers, it's about enjoying a seamless, connected experience anywhere they go. To achieve this, OEMs need to focus on continuity and simplicity.
- Carrier flexibility:
To improve the customer experience, OEMs have to deliver the same online experience in vehicles that drivers have in their homes and with their smartphones. One survey found that 37% of car buyers would switch car brands for better connectivity.2 So, OEMs need to offer a choice of carriers to deliver that continuity and keep customers loyal. - Connected services:
Data demands are rising rapidly. EVs and software defined vehicles require robust wireless connections for OEMs to be able to monitor diagnostics, improve performance, deliver OTA updates, and retrieve valuable customer data. Customers are also increasingly using high-bandwidth backseat infotainment services, like streaming video. - Simplified change management:
Allows OEMs to integrate multiple carriers and data streaming options. This also means manufacturers don't have to unwind complex existing relationships while still giving customers a single, consistent experience. - Advanced technologies:
Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and vehicle-to-everything communications (V2X) can offer enhanced safety by leveraging edge computing and low-latency connectivity for real-time alerts. V2X helps protect vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians, and even warn drivers about approaching emergency vehicles.3
Delivering flexibility and simplicity.
Three advantages of our advanced connected vehicle architecture.
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1
Support for existing SIM, dual-SIM, and eSIM configurations:
Dual-SIM and eSIM configurations give OEMs even more flexibility in separating infotainment from telematics connectivity and in choosing carriers—flexibility they can also offer customers. OEMs can also split the cost of network services even on a single SIM with one or more third parties, including content providers and end users.
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2
Multi-carrier architecture:
Enables OEMs to work with different carriers to optimize services and reduce overall cost.
It can also support different consumer profiles and options such as managing different rates for customer infotainment service on one carrier and a different rate and carrier to support OTA updates.
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3
T-Mobile Control Center:Our solutions integrate across the board with the
T-Mobile Control Center, a Cisco IoT management platform that enables OEMs to increase efficiencies, lower costs, and go to market faster. These time and cost savings will help your team drive more agile innovation and deliver better products to your customers.
Four ways we’re supporting OEMs—and their customers.
- 5G Standalone (SA):
Offers low latency and higher bandwidth, which is critical for real-time command and control of autonomous and teleoperated vehicles. 5G SA can also support more IoT devices than other network solutions—including sensors, robotics, and machines. This scalability is both cost effective and efficient. 5G SA enables new levels of control, like network slicing that lets OEMs prioritize critical, computationally intensive, safety-oriented tasks, from ADAS to AV services. - Global footprint:
Working with Deutsche Telekom,T-Mobile can deliver a global solution for OEMs with a single T-IoT solution that covers 383 networks around the world and a full range of network protocols, including NB-IoT, LTE-M, LTE, and 5G. It means with a single hardware solution; OEMs can support customers using local MNO profiles around the world. - Security and regulation support:
We go further than other carriers by offering the industry’s first SIM-based SASE solution. Just as important, we stay up to date with data and privacy regulations around the world, working with OEMs to help them maintain compliance. - V2X:
Our long-term investment in V2X technology means we are ready to embrace forthcoming automotive applications and technologies. For OEMs, this makes us a strong partner for planning and navigating their V2X strategies. This includes helping partners leverage the macro network, demonstrating that it can be a viable alternative to point-to-point connectivity for many safety applications.
T-Mobile can deliver a global solution for OEMs with a single T-IoT solution that covers 383 networks around the world and a full range of network protocols.
Custom solutions to satisfy customers.
From automotive profiles to enabling customer carrier choice, we are at the forefront of driving consumer satisfaction and loyalty in today's connected cars. It's about creating innovative solutions that make customers' and OEMs’ lives easier.
Working with BMW,
Cutting-edge solutions.
Halo.car, an autonomous vehicle startup in Las Vegas, partnered with us on last-mile transportation solutions. As America’s 5G leader—with the largest and fastest 5G network—we were the best choice for handling Halo’s critical remote-control teleoperations.
“Innovation and driving change for the better is our DNA, and we’ve unleashed a 5G network that will transform industries and change our world for the better.”
Mike Sievert, CEO of
Teleoperation is the final piece of the autonomous vehicle puzzle, enabling remote drivers to take control of vehicles when AVs face challenges such as extreme weather, road closures, or obstacles the vehicles’ system doesn't recognize. That's why three of the leading companies in the AV space have already partnered with us to support their teleoperation systems.
“Fueling this kind of startup innovation is part of why we’ve built the biggest and fastest 5G network in the country,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of
Planning for the future.
Connected cars, software defined vehicles, and EVs are changing the automotive landscape. OEMs need advanced connectivity solutions like those from
Recommended reading.
AMERICA’S 1ST 5G CONNECTED CAR
T-Mobile powers new connected car plan for BMW.
T-Mobile powers new connected car plan for BMW.
DRIVERLESS VEHICLES
Halo and Las Vegas launch autonomous car service. Halo and Las Vegas launch autonomous car service.
5G AND CONNECTED CARS
On the road to a connected future. On the road to a connected future.
Discover more resources.
- Salesforce, 2024, "Connected Car Disconnect: 65% of U.S. Drivers Don’t Understand ‘Connected Cars’ but Many Will Trade Data for Personalization," Accessed August 8, 2024, www.salesforce.com/news/stories/connected-car-research/
- McKinsey & Company, Michele Bertoncello, Christopher Martens, Timo Möller, and Tobias Schneiderbauer, 2021, "Unlocking the full life-cycle value from connected-car data", Accessed August 8, 2024, www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/unlocking-the-full-life-cycle-value-from-connected-car-data
- Haas Alert, 2024, "About; Reshaping road safety around the world," Accessed August 8, 2024, www.haasalert.com/about