Fast forward into the future of cars

A connected driving experience

We are witnessing a true digital revolution in the car industry. We don’t know if cars will fly in the future yet, but they will certainly be connected to a new world of digital services.

Vodafone Global has been offering M2M connectivity services to the Automotive Industry for a couple of years. Ultimately, allowing car owners to manage their cars remotely, update maps on the go and schedule maintenance inside the car. And at the same time, allowing manufactures to access car data and control instantly.

Now with mandatory services like eCall, voted into force by the European Parliament in 2015, all new cars from April 2018 must be equipped with a SIM card. Guaranteeing that in the event of a serious accident, eCall automatically dials 112 - Europe's single emergency number.

Using over-the-top services, a service that provides a product over the Internet and bypasses traditional distribution, Vodafone wants to reach other revenue streams with the connectivity available in the car, which is currently being managed by their global M2M Platform (GDSP). Internet in the car (IITC), which sits on top of the existing connectivity infrastructure, is the first over the top service targeted to consumer end-users. This allows car owners to have WiFi hotspots inside the car, powered by Vodafone pre-paid bundles.

Throughout this project, CELFOCUS has been responsible for providing the required core systems to make IITC a reality, including integrating two other players (Huawei and MasterCard).

Using 3 CELFOCUS products (CM+, OM+ and PCRME), this project has been nominated as “Innovation Product of 2015” among all Vodafone projects.

The connected driving experience has already been launched for 2 Original Equipment Manufacturers (BMW and Daimler/Mercedes) in 7 countries (UK, DE, NL, SP, IT, FR, AT). And connectivity trials have been performed in Portugal, with IITC-powered BMW Series 7 traveling from Lisbon to Porto, CELFOCUS office locations.