US: AT&T and Vodafone join forces to drive forward IoT connectivity

AT&T has teamed up with Vodafone Business to work on accelerating Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and innovation within the automotive industry.

The aim is to simplify the process of implementing IoT technology within vehicles and deliver safety, security, and entertainment solutions.

“This alliance with Vodafone Business is a natural extension of our existing relationship,” said Chris Penrose, president of Internet of Things solutions at AT&T. “We each have rich experience in connected vehicle technology. By working together, we can innovate faster and help our global customers bring connectivity, entertainment and telematics to more vehicles across our respective footprints.”

In particular, the duo will focus on 5G and autonomous vehicle technology, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) capabilities, in-vehicle entertainment, connected car applications and services, global service quality models, and connected car/smart cities intersection. At the same time, they will look to simplify the deployment process, improve operations, and make the network certification process easier.

“Our work with AT&T will benefit automotive manufacturers and their customers around the world as we simplify processes and provide a consistent experience to accelerate IoT adoption in this fast-moving market,” said Stefano Gastaut, IoT director at Vodafone Business. “As technology complexity increases, this is the right time to make technology adoption easier for the automotive industry to help them achieve their business outcomes. This is the goal of this alliance.”

In addition to teaming up with AT&T, Vodafone also penned an agreement with SoftBank-owned computer processing company Arm. The aim of that tie-up is to reduce the complexity and costs faced by organisations when implementing IoT solutions.