American telecom service provider AT&T has selected Amdocs for the AT&T Drive Studio, a new center to enhance the development of connected-car services and applications.
Amdocs in a statement said AT&T announced its connected car initiative January 6 at the 2014 Developer Summit alongside the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Amdocs will enable AT&T to enhance its offering by supporting innovative business models with its auto industry partners. The solution will provide charging, billing and partner relationship management integrated with AT&T’s existing capabilities.
These capabilities will enable AT&T, which is enhancing its focus on connected cars, to split the connectivity charges for separate services occurring in the same car, so that consumer apps such as navigation and entertainment can be billed to consumers, while connectivity for car diagnostics, vehicle telematics and safety services may be included in an automaker’s subscription charge.
This split-billing capability also opens up a host of promotional opportunities for auto OEMs, app and content providers and others in the connected car eco-system facilitating, for example, offers for a free year of internet music service.
The new AT&T Drive Studio will serve as a hub to demonstrate new solutions for the connected car, with the focus on safety, convenience and entertainment. The AT&T Drive Studio will enable auto manufacturers to explore new automotive connectivity solutions that could include 4G/LTE, cloud solutions, virtual assistants, data services and new entertainment offerings.
Chris Penrose, senior vice president, emerging devices, AT&T Mobility, said: “The Connected Car market is an area of strategic importance for AT&T, and it was only natural to team up with Amdocs, whose dynamic solutions continue to provide new monetization capabilities.”
