Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. Videos

In AT&T’s smart city future, cars talk to each other and play nice

Keith Nelson Jr.
By
When driving, you invariably end up depending on slight communications with other drivers to ensure everyone’s safety. In AT&T’s smart city future, the cars will do the communicating with each other. Digital Trends spoke with Joe Mosele, vice president of internet of things solutions at AT&T Mobility, at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show about how technology is inspiring one of the greatest advancements in the history of the automotive industry.

“This is the biggest transformation of the automotive industry in the last 100 years,” Mosele said of the recent wave of internet of things integration in cars. Mosele touted AT&T’s past contributions to the revolution — remote control car locks, built-in Wi-Fi hot spots — but harped on AT&T focusing on connecting cars deeper by having them talk to one another. AT&T announced new partnerships with Ford and Delphi at CES to develop and implement vehicle-to-anything (V2X) communication. The companies plans to integrate V2X with AT&T’s smart cities’ infrastructure so drivers can be notified of approaching vehicles and possible traffic accidents over AT&T’s LTE network.

Recommended Videos

Mosele says the government will be the “catalyst” to getting all cars connected, even suggesting a federal mandate for all older cars to be retrofitted with connective technology. Yes, your dad’s 1970 Cadillac DeVille will have to turn into KITT from Knight Rider in AT&T’s smart city future.

Related

Cars may be able to tell the other one when there’s trouble ahead, but it’s still up to a human to decide how to avoid it, and we make mistakes. Mosele says there will come a time when there are no accidents — it will be when there are no people driving. “We’re years away from a society where nobody’s driving, where nobody owns their own car,” Mosele attests before claiming it will happen, but not in the near future.

The smart car is another component of AT&T’s smart cities initative. AT&T first revealed its framework for smart cities last year around this time; naming Atlanta, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Chicago, and Dallas the initial spotlight cities. This year AT&T have added  infrastructure, citizen engagement, transportation, and public safety as well as naming Portland, Oregon, the latest city it will spotlight.

Digital Trends is live all week at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. Check out our continuing coverage live on YouTube, Facebook, #DTces, and DigitalTrends.com/ces/.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Keith Nelson Jr.
Keith Nelson Jr.
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…
The 6 best car phone holders in 2024
Belkin BoostCharge Magnetic Wireless Car Charger with an iPhone 14 Pro.

Belkin BoostCharge Magnetic Wireless Car Charger Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Installing a car phone mount in your vehicle is the best way to make sure that you have easy access to your smartphone when behind the wheel. While you shouldn't be using your phone while driving, having it mounted on your windshield, dashboard, vent, or anywhere else will let you take a quick glance when you're using a navigation app, or to change your playlist when you stop for a traffic light, for example. Instead of having to pick up your device, it will be easier and faster to get these done while it's on a car phone mount for less time of having your eyes off the road.

Read more
Should you buy a used EV? Maybe, but it’s complicated
2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited AWD rear end side profile from driver's side with trees and a metal fence in the back.

Electric cars are slowly but surely getting cheaper. Over the past year or so, Ford and Tesla have been discounting their most popular electric cars while other brands, like Rivian, are laying the groundwork for all-new cheaper models.

But you'd still be hard-pressed to call electric cars cheap, and buying a completely new car in the first place is a hurdle in and of itself for many potential buyers. According to Statista, used car sales represented around 74% of all car sales in 2022, and while this figure is likely to change as electric cars get cheaper, the fact remains that most car buyers would prefer to save cash and buy used rather than buy something new.
Buying a new car ain't what it used to be
Buying a car with an electric powertrain doesn't necessarily need to be all that different from buying an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. But there's a little more to it than that.

Read more
Rivian R2 vs. Ford Mustang Mach-E: Will the R2 be a better buy?
Side of the Rivian R2

The Rivian R2 has finally been announced, and it could end up being the go-to EV for drivers who want a decently affordable electric car with a rugged look and feel. But when it finally launches to the public, it won't be the only option in its price range -- the Ford Mustang Mach-E could be one of its main competitors.

The Mustang Mach-E may not be quite as rugged-feeling as the Rivian R2, but it does have a lot going for it -- like an increasingly low price, sleek design, and comfortable interior. Is one of these EVs better than the other? We put the two head-to-head to find out.
Design
The first thing to note about the two cars is their design, as they’re pretty different. The Rivian R2 is built to be a little more rugged and outdoorsy, while the Mach-E instead has a sleeker and sportier look to it. Both cars look stylish and modern.

Read more