Audi made an important announcement on Tuesday, February 22, with the German automaker saying that it has signed a landmark agreement with American wireless network operator Verizon to bring 5G connectivity to its U.S. car lineup in the near future, starting with the 2024 model year vehicles.
Audi aims to be one of the first automakers in the United States to adopt the ultra-wideband telecommunications network in its cars. Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business, was delighted to have sealed the agreement with one of the leading automakers in the world.
"Audi drivers will be among the first in the world to experience a new generation of automobiles, one in which their car is both a 5G mobile device and a vehicle."
Erwin added that they are proud to bring the best 5G networking expertise in the world to a company like Audi, whose premium engineering with its vehicles deserves the best 5G technology to match.
5G technology is vital for various connected services inside the vehicle. First and foremost, 5G allows vehicles to receive software upgrades over the air, which is important in this day and age. 5G technology will enable passengers to stream or download their music and entertainment shows at higher speeds. 5G also allows the navigation system of a vehicle to be enhanced with HD/3D mapping and video services.
It will also allow the infotainment system to better handle less familiar services in vehicles, like cloud-based user profiles, mobile retail capabilities, and cellular vehicle-to-everything communication (C-V2X) technology.
That is a welcome development for Audi, given that the German firm has already started offering a few C-V2X technologies to its North American vehicle lineup. Audi has provided its drivers with information about construction zones, traffic lights, and more in certain areas.
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Audi says it can further develop the technology with 5G soon boosting its cars, allowing its vehicles in the future to respond to other vehicles and infrastructure, delivering low-latency information about the road around them. That would be crucial in the overall development of automated vehicles and provide Audi drivers with important information about accidents on the road ahead.
Aside from providing 5G access to Audi drivers, Verizon is also partnering with all three major cloud providers to give users access to mobile edge computing services, which will help tremendously in the development of autonomous driving features.
Audi did not elaborate on the actual launch date for the 5G technology on its vehicles, but the carmaker did say that it will start introducing 5G connectivity and its associated services to the company's model year 2024 vehicles.
Filip Brabec, the senior VP of Product Planning for Audi of America, lauded the deal, saying Audi will be among the first automakers to bring the next generation of connectivity to their customers in the United States.
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