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The future of the connected car is going to have many services that rely on the quality of the connection within the vehicle. Telecoms providers therefore need to make connectivity simple, reliable and most importantly, available.

JC&C Bowers, Pangea’s strategic partner and service provider in the automotive space, knows all too well of the opportunity and importance of telecoms providers to the connected car.

As JC&C’s CEO, John Bowers, explains: “It’s...

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Filld, an on-demand petrol startup which currently delivers anywhere between San Francisco and San Jose, has partnered with Bentley Motors to offer high-quality petrol via professionally-trained commercially-licensed drivers in DOT-certified safe trucks.

Now, Bentley customers will get gas delivered directly to their vehicles with the help of their mobile phones. All they will have to do is, place an order through a mobile app available on Android and iOS.

A background of this...

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Connected car production will grow from 12.4 million shipments at the end of this year to almost 61 million by 2020, according to the latest research note from analyst house Gartner.

The end of 2015 saw 6.8 million units globally, with 4.68m of those tethered – to a mobile device – and 2.17m embedded. 2017 will however see the turning point where embedded systems will dominate, with 11.1m compared to 9.97m tethered. By 2020, the numbers for embedded and tethered are predicted...

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Industrial IoT (IIoT) continues to garner most of the investment activity and generate most of the revenue in the space. In the instrumented construction equipment space, for example, the market is so mature that equipment users expect that predictive maintenance savings are already reflected in pricing.

Increasingly they also expect to be compensated for allowing the equipment supplier to make use of “their” data. Conversely, business models for consumer IoT...

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A new study from Juniper Research titled “M2M: Strategies & Opportunities for MNOs, Service Providers & OEMs 2016-2021” has revealed that data intensive applications such as internet radio, music streaming applications and information services will generate approximately 6,000 petabytes per annum by 2021. The figure corresponds to over 300 billion hours of music streaming.

Research author Sam Barker said: “The wider M2M market offers a reprieve from declining...

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A new report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released in partnership with the World Economic Forum has found that the adoption of self-driving cars and self-driving taxis could lead to a 90% reduction in accidents, an 80% or higher decline in tailpipe emissions and a 60% fall in the number of vehicles on city roads.

Nikolaus Lang, a BCG senior partner and report co-author, said: “There is a compelling case...

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Civil Maps, a developer of 3D mapping technology for fully autonomous vehicles, has raised $6.6 million (£5m) in a seed funding round. The company aims to ensure smooth and safe operation of fully autonomous vehicles.

Civil Maps turns sensor data into coherent map information for fully autonomous vehicles (SAE Levels 4-5) by leveraging artificial intelligence and vehicle-based local processing. The company will use the seed investment to accelerate product development and...

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Jaguar Land Rover is set to develop and trial a large portfolio of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) technologies in a fleet of over 100 research vehicles over the next four years. The initial batch of these vehicles will be tested on a new 41 mile test route on motorways and urban roads around Coventry and Solihull throughout 2016.

Tony Harper, Head of Research, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Our connected and automated technology could help improve traffic flow, cut congestion and...

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In order to further boost adoption of 4G LTE, GM’s Chevrolet has ensured a price reduction of 50% in its OnStar data plans for the technology.

Chevrolet is the first automaker to offer 4G LTE connectivity across its entire retail portfolio and the brand has sold more than 2.1 million OnStar 4G LTE-connected vehicles since June 2014. Chevrolet customers have used more than 3 million gigabytes of data in just two years and the figures are only set to maintain an upward...

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MWC 2016 was  something of a watershed for the connected car. While the connected car arrived a few years ago, this year we saw that it is raring to go mainstream. Ford and Nissan had their own stands at the show and Jaguar was showing off the new F-Pace, its ‘most connected car to date’.

This is not a new trend, but notable was the fact that more and more firms who are not directly part of the automotive industry also featured vehicles on their stands. AT&T and...

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Long distance ridesharing service provider BlaBlaCar has announced it is using database provider MariaDB to supplement the company’s exponential growth.

BlaBlaCar is seeing rapid growth as it expands, currently possessing 25 million members across 22 countries, especially in India and Brazil.

Nicolas Blanc, head of platform architecture at BlaBlaCar, is used to enhancing the service for users of its applications while catering to the requirements of development and marketing...

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Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a pedestrian detection system for smart vehicles which can detect pedestrians in near real-time to help ensure the streets remain safe in the era of semi-autonomous and driverless cars.

Results we’re obtaining with this new algorithm are substantially better for...

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Europe is well on its way to experiencing the benefits of connected vehicles. Mercedes recently unveiled the F-015 self-driving luxury concept car. Not to be outdone, rival BMW successfully demonstrated an autonomous version of the M6 on a racetrack. Volvo, Audi, Renault, and Volkswagen all have similar prototypes.

While self-driving passenger cars have the amazing ability to reduce...

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AT&T has announced an extension to its exclusive connected car agreement with BMW. The agreement, in place since 2008, has seen AT&T back BMW's ConnectedDrive services and apps. However, the scope of the new agreement will now also include “infotainment” features such as a Wi-Fi hot spot.

The new agreement will see customers, of the all-new BMW 7 Series, being presented with an alternative of a Wi-Fi hot spot running on AT&T's 4G LTE network. A...

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Connected car software provider Vinli has announced Vinli Home Connect, which aims to integrate connected home platforms with the connected car.

Regular readers of this publication will recognise Vinli after the startup smashed its Indiegogo campaign efforts for making dumb cars smarter through a $99 device back in June. The Vinli on-board platform and device can be used...

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Cars are getting more human-like in their abilities, but according to new research they don't give the same regard to privacy that (most) humans would. A study conducted by German motorists’ organisation ADAC has found that - in addition to trip and distance data - one recent vehicle reported maximum engine revolutions, the status of vehicle lights, and far more...

Just yesterday, we reported Ford has developed a V2V system for hazard reporting which alerts other drivers and vehicles to upcoming problems. Today it's the turn of Nokia-owned location intelligence and mapping specialists, HERE, who are testing a simpler but more readily-available solution for drivers to report problems on the road. 

Whereas Ford uses a complicated system which...

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Safety is a big concern with vehicles, whether automated or not. Car manufacturer Ford has developed a V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) communications system which can warn other drivers of upcoming hazards and road blockages in real-time to help keep journeys safe, fast, and stress-free for everyone. 

Built in collaboration with St Petersburg State Polytechnic University, the...

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As new technology is developed and connected cars become increasingly popular, the insurance industry, the automotive industry and consumers are all becoming aware of what this might mean. The potential benefits are huge. Tailored insurance premiums, optimised services and personalised feedback are all within reach – but there are some who are concerned about their digital safety and data privacy.

In today’s world, the importance of data security and individuals’ control...

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Remember when a car was just a car? The automotive industry was all about how fast, how far, how safe, and how reliable their cars were. And, they got very good at it, having decades of expertise in developing and promoting safety standards and performance benchmarks to ensure the safety – and loyalty – of their customers.

Enter the connected car. Now, the industry finds itself at a crossroads. The fact is, the connected car is here to stay, and as it is with virtually...