Automotive connectivity has long been one of the standard-bearers for cellular IoT connectivity, delivering both scale and data volume. The available power also means more connectivity options than for more constrained endpoints. This has made automotive one of the biggest adopters of new cellular technologies, from 5G to eSIM. Our latest cellular IoT report examines how the sector is once more bringing in the latest connectivity to improve the services and user experience offered by the industry.
The use cases for automotive have typically been upload-focused and relatively latency-tolerant, because they are more concerned with reporting into dashboards and monitoring systems where immediate action could not be directly taken through the system in response to the data shared. This is changing as preparations are made for automated vehicles, which require incredibly low latency as standard for collision avoidance.
The amount of onboard computing required for video telematics means that the stakeholder makeup may be distinct from the usual approach towards device makers. Many semiconductor companies are manufacturing vehicle-specific hardware suites, and some of these integrate cellular modems directly. While in the minority at present, those directly integrating are potentially serving large volumes of vehicle OEMs and could be a viable target for CSPs looking to offer eSIM-based connectivity to this market.
Data & Monetisation Flows for Telematics & Infotainment
Source: Kaleido Intelligence
We also expect the use of onboard Wi-Fi services to turn personal cars into FWA (fixed wireless access nodes. This will need a large amount of bandwidth for some cases, such as rear passenger video streaming. As such, employing network APIs for QoD (quality on demand) to guarantee consistent services may be an available premium service for some users. However, this will require a degree of DPI (deep packet inspection) from the CSP, to identify the service being used and whether such control is warranted.
Automotive Voice Communications
Having access to voice communications in emergencies has become a key use case for vehicle safety, and was the main focus of the initial eCall initiative in Europe. These roll-outs have typically been in line with the latest cellular protocols, although the uneven availability of VoLTE capabilities compared to 4G LTE general availability has led to a reliance on 2G and 3G technology for voice. The impending circuit-switched network sunsets have led to a renewed interest in voice services, with VoLTE and Vo5G services becoming desired features.
The Place of NTN
NTN connectivity will be a key part of emergency voice service provision in future years. There are few active deployments in the automotive space at present, but NTN can guarantee more coverage than terrestrial services, and NB-NTN voice services have been demonstrated through initial partnerships. When supplied, these serve a similar purpose to bonded connectivity in emergency services connectivity delivery, although it will require cellular-satellite providers to include IMS voice services within their core networks.
C-V2X
Cellular Vehicle-to-X (C-V2X) standards were defined in 3GPP release 14, and include a variety of measures to interlink vehicles with the cellular network for safety and convenience purposes. These systems can transmit data both between vehicles (V2V) via the PC5 sidelink capacity, and to and from the cellular network and roadside connections through V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure). These systems provide the backbone for OEM digital services and the like.
C-V2X adoption has been inconsistent across many countries, with the widest use in China where there is spectrum specifically allocated to V2X use cases in the 5.9 GHz spectrum, and there are testing requirements for vehicles to comply with C-V2X specifications. Elsewhere, there has been little regulatory momentum for C-V2X adoption, and it remains on a case-by-case basis, with few non-Chinese OEMs (notably Ford, Audi and BMW) making public statements supporting the technology.
C-V2X’s limited adoption has been primarily due to the question of monetisation. V2V applications via PC5 do not transmit to the cellular network in the conventional sense, and so cannot be monetised. These use cases are widely taken up for notifications of emergency braking, collision avoidance and so on. However, the V2I capabilities do use the macro network, and so incur connectivity costs. As a result, there have been several different iterations of connectivity that aim to serve the same use cases as V2I C-V2X, with little consistency.
Access the Report
Access Kaleido’s latest Cellular IoT Connectivity Series: Transport & Logistics Opportunities 2026 to gain an in-depth overview of direct feedback from transportation and logistics stakeholders and IoT CSPs serving the industry, and valuable insights into requirements and expectations for connectivity in the transport and logistics value chain.
Blog Author: James Moar (Principal Analyst)