AT&T, GM Make 5G Connected Car Deal
American telecom giant AT&T just nabbed its first 5G connected car deal, collaborating with General Motors (GM) to equip the brand’s vehicles with 5G by 2024.
Over the next decade, GM and AT&T hope to have millions of GM vehicles with 5G connectivity. However, before this happens, both companies plan to ensure there is backbone connectivity that can support GM’s plan for next-gen connected cars—and even autonomous vehicles.
Moreover, AT&T and GM plan to ensure that the telecom giant’s core network can handle the growing needs of 5G-enabled vehicles. According to a GM spokesperson, it means combining GM cars and back-office technology and AT%T’s network for an end-to-end wireless network.
“There’s going to be a performance boost and improvements as AT&T improves their infrastructure, so that the vehicles connected with 4G capabilities, model year 19 and beyond, will also start to perceive an improvement in their performance”, said Santiago Chamorro, GM’s VP of Global Connected Services.
While the automotive company has yet to disclose all of the 5G bands that their vehicles will support, a GM spokesperson told Fierce Wireless that the band support that the company will have “will be diverse and (is) fully aligned with AT&T’s spectrum strategy”.
AT&T is set to start the initial rollout of key mid-band spectrum in the 3.7Ghz later this year. By 2024, the carrier hopes to reach 200 users with C-band. The collaboration with GM will give connected car users roadway-centric coverage, faster music and video download and more reliable over-the-air software updates.
“By connecting millions of GM vehicles to our nationwide 5G network, we will improve the customer experience for existing services while laying the groundwork for the next wave of innovation, including autonomous driving,” said Gregory Wieboldt, SVP Global Business, Industry Solutions at AT&T.
This collaboration is just one of the many examples of how 5G can enhance and transform various industries moving forward. For connected cars, 5G can lead to better user experience, more reliable features, and easier software updates. However, this also calls for better cybersecurity.
5G-enabled connected vehicles require more robust cybersecurity compared to their predecessors. It also means future-proofing its ecosystem to ensure the security and safety of both vehicle and user.
To learn more about the risks associated with connected cars and how to mitigate them, check out Trend Micro’s extensive whitepaper entitled Cybersecurity for Connected Cars: Exploring Risks in 5G, Cloud, and Other Connected Technologies.
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