Renault, Orange want to see what 4G can bring to cars

Tomorrow’s vehicles will be hyper-connected, enabling motorists to safely access their professional and personal digital worlds, wherever driving circumstances permit. That much is becoming increasingly obvious.

What’s less obvious however is the extent to which we’ll be able use high-speed mobile technologies in our cars. That’s why Renault and Orange are collaborating on a research project to test the automotive uses of very-high-speed, 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) connectivity.

Under the partnership, Orange rolled out 4G in advance at Renault’s research and testing facilities. According to the two companies, the aim is for both teams to test new uses made possible by very-high-speed mobile technology in real-life situations, ranging from virtual office and cloud gaming to video conferencing.

An initial test is apparently underway on the NEXT TWO prototype based on Renault ZOE and to be presented on the Renault stand at the LeWeb’13 Paris conference.

Rémi Bastien, Head of Engineering Innovation at Renault, said: “This partnership is an example of an effective working relationship between two very different worlds. We were able to benefit ahead of time from a high-speed LTE network and from Orange’s expertise, with an opportunity to take advantage of the network for our prototype of the connected vehicle of the future.”

Renault’s been working on its own connected cars programme for a while now, most notably through the R-Link tablets, currently available in most of its models. In order to keep those tablets running, Renault claims that it relies on Orange Business Services, which supplies the SIM M2M cards used in R-Link-equipped cars.

Nathalie Leboucher, Head of the Smart Cities Program at Orange, said: “We are delighted to provide Renault with the unrivalled performance of our 4G network and thereby contribute to the development of new Web-mobility uses and services for vehicles of the future. Connected cars with communications services make travelling more efficient, and this is a major development priority in Orange’s strategy.”