Panasonic, AT&T Launching Q3 Connectivity Test in Georgia Community

Panasonic Automotive and AT&T are partnering on a multi-stage test program to explore the technological, business and social aspects of a community of connected commuters. The three-year program will launch in Q3 this year in Peachtree City, Ga., just south of Atlanta, where Panasonic Automotive runs a plant, and will be open to additional partners including car makers, fast-food restaurant chains, media and real estate companies, universities and local service providers, Hakan Kostepen, director of planning, strategy & innovation for Panasonic Automotive, told Consumer Electronics Daily. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Panasonic will combine existing products including navigation systems, Toughbook computers and video cameras with new mobile electronics technology it’s working on for 2012-2013 model year vehicles, Kostepen told us. AT&T will be responsible for infrastructure, including LTE and 3G, and integration with Panasonic in-car infotainment systems, he said. Additional connectivity options will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the companies said. “The whole idea is to raise awareness about the connected lifestyle,” Kostepen said. Part of the initiative will focus on the social impact of technology in the car, including teenagers’ use of technology and safety, he said.

The faster data speed offered by an LTE network will help expand mobile Internet use from emergency use, navigation and Internet radio to include two-way multimedia where the vehicle isn’t just consuming content, Kostepen said. “We see ourselves as a content-generation company,” he said. “I can have a car with cameras and create content and upload those pictures of my trip to Disneyworld, or parts of it. The car can create a surround view and upload it to the cloud.”

A faster network and more powerful technology will also take navigation to the next level, Kostepen said. He described “dynamic POI,” where points-of-interest information is no longer static but occurs in real-time. Users driving on a Friday night can look up information occurring at the moment, for instance. “Perishable POI is very powerful,” he said, and could include information on local garage sales that a navigation system could steer drivers to.

Voice-recognition and speech-to-text technology will be part of the test program, Kostepen said. The vehicle’s infotainment system could read an e-book to users as they drive. On the social media side, drivers could access Twitter or Facebook accounts using text-to speech technology. In the B2B world, a real-estate agent could use text-to-speech while driving between listings. The test program will leverage information Panasonic has learned in the Japan market where the “smartphone experience on trains translates to the smartphone car experience in the U.S.,” he said.

Kostepen said in-car connectivity plays a key role with electric vehicles. “With the recent acquisition of Sanyo, Panasonic will explore more in this domain,” he said. Panasonic also invested $30 million in electric car manufacturer Tesla in November 2010.