General Motors (GM) is hoping that bringing LTE to its vehicles will ultimately help drive profits.
According to a report in Automotive News, GM is hoping that in-car connectivity will lead to the car maker getting a cut of transactions made from the vehicle. For instance, GM would get a portion of sales from drivers booking hotels or purchasing fast food from their cars.
GM may also be hoping that over-the-air software updates will help the company save on repair and warranty costs.
Automotive News reports that GM expects to garner $350 million in LTE-related profits over the next three years.
The connected car market continues to grow, as Gartner expects 10 percent of all revenue from the auto industry to be generated from connected broadband platforms by 2020.
AT&T has deals in place with eight auto manufacturers, most recently adding Subaru, and has promised to have 10 million connected cars on its network by 2017.
By Cisco’s own estimate, 11.5 billion mobile connections will be online in the next five years and 28 percent of those will be M2M.
Filed Under: Carriers
