Audi starts calling its vehicular broadband plans ‘Audi connect,’ partners with Alcatel for LTE internet

Audi’s had grand designs on the connected car for years now , and is presently looking to upgrade to LTE , but first it’s time to address the most important consideration — marketing the stuff effectively. To that end, Audi’s unifying its infotainment initiatives under the brand Audi Connect, so it will be absolutely clear how you can pimp your ride with tech when you walk into an Audi dealership. That is, if you don’t already have Audi Connect, because the company claims it’s already present in the A8, A7 and A6. Those three automobiles can presently add an optional UMTS modem for online apps, though Audi’s also working with Alcatel-Lucent to bring faster LTE connectivity by 2014. Expect a software update sooner than that: this summer, Audi hopes to add live traffic data and voice commands to control a suite of Google services as well. Find more details at our source links. Audi starts calling its vehicular broadband plans ‘Audi connect,’ partners with Alcatel for LTE internet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 04:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink