GM to Offer 4G Next Year

Are Connected Cars Really Coming? GM to Offer 4G Next Year

By Jonathan Welsh


General Motors Co.
GM’s coming 4G service is supposed to turn cars into full-fledged mobile devices.
More than a decade after car makers began touting the idea of “the connected car,” one from which occupants can reliably and quickly access the web, the capability is about to become standard equipment available from the factory.

General Motors Co. said it has begun work on a global strategy to roll out cars and trucks with embedded 4G LTE mobile broadband, which turns vehicles into rolling WiFi hotspots. The first models to get the technology will be 2015 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, which will start reaching the market in 2014.

AT&T will provide the service in the U.S. and Canada, with more carrier and supplier relationships to be announced in the coming months, GM said.

The company said the 4G connections will be able to support simultaneous voice and data connections and bring new communication and entertainment option for drivers and passengers, from faster downloads and updates to streaming video in the back.

GM said the 4G system is meant to build on the OnStar connected services it began offering in vehicles in 1996. In some ways, those early OnStar applications were emblematic of the shortcomings of mobile connectivity that have disappointed motorists for years and caused many to give up on the idea of true connected driving.

But with the new setup, the vehicle itself finally becomes a mobile device — a smartphone with wheels. GM said customers will not need to carry a phone to use the vehicles’ connected systems.