Automotive Vertical Convergence Report

Vehicles are expected to remain connected throughout their operational lifetime, often spanning more than a decade and across multiple owners, markets, and connectivity providers. Automotive stakeholders highlighted the need for lifecycle-safe connectivity that can support remote provisioning, subscription management, and eSIM profile changes without requiring hardware modifications.

As vehicles increasingly move across borders and secondary markets, participants stressed the importance of consistent connectivity management processes and simplified integration models that reduce the complexity of managing services on a country-by-country basis.

Participants repeatedly described the network as a “black box” that makes troubleshooting difficult when connectivity issues arise. Automotive manufacturers and service providers want greater visibility into network conditions and service performance so they can more quickly identify whether problems originate in the vehicle, device, subscription, or network.

There was also strong interest in receiving network experience indicators that can help monitor service quality over time and provide early warning of potential issues, enabling a better customer experience without requiring operators to expose sensitive internal network data.

As connected vehicle services become more advanced, automotive companies are increasingly seeking ways to request enhanced network performance when it is needed most. This is particularly important for safety-related services, teleoperation, remote diagnostics, and situations where congestion could impact service delivery.

Participants emphasised that future solutions should provide flexible, on-demand quality controls rather than permanently reserved resources, allowing applications to access higher levels of network performance only when operationally required.

Teleoperation and robotaxi services require highly reliable, real-time connectivity that can perform consistently in challenging environments. Participants highlighted the importance of stable uplink performance, low latency, and resilience during periods of congestion or high network demand.

The focus is not necessarily on maximum bandwidth, but on maintaining minimum levels of connectivity that allow critical services to continue operating safely and predictably, even under adverse conditions.

Future mobility services are expected to utilise multiple connectivity technologies, including public and private cellular networks, Wi-Fi, and potentially satellite communications. Automotive stakeholders emphasised the need for seamless transitions between these environments without disrupting vehicle services.

Participants also highlighted the growing importance of multi-network strategies that allow services to maintain continuity by intelligently selecting or combining connectivity options based on availability, performance, and operational requirements.

As connected vehicles become increasingly dependent on digital services, trust and security are becoming foundational requirements. Participants identified a growing need for stronger authentication mechanisms, identity verification, and protection against tampering or fraudulent activity.

There was also significant interest in network-assisted location verification capabilities that can provide additional confidence in a vehicle’s reported position, particularly in environments where GPS performance may be limited or unreliable.