Audi gets Connected World award for 4G-LTE advance

February 24, 2014 by Audi

Audi is garnering some important recognition for the 4G-LTE Audi connect system in the new Audi A3 sedan several weeks before the car is available to U.S. customers. The A3 sedan will become the first vehicle in the American market to provide ultra-fast 4G-LTE wireless connectivity.

For the system that is built into the all-new A3 that has been on sale in Europe and comes to the U.S. in sedan form this spring, Connected World magazine awarded Audi and the team of companies that assisted it a Gold award, the only honor in the Connected Car category of the 2014 Connected World Awards. They were bestowed at the Connected World Conference held at the Chicago Auto Show.

'It recognizes the fact that we brought four companies together around a technology that has a lot of promise and came up with a way to put it in a vehicle to provide a seamless experience with 4G-LTE connectivity, ' said Anupam Malhotra, Senior Manager for Connected Vehicles for Audi of America.

'This award recognizes not only the fact that we are the first to bring 4G-LTE to market but also that we have done so in a way that looks at customer needs first.' Audi shared the award with its partners in developing Audi connect for the A3 sedan: AT&T, the wireless carrier for the system; Gemalto NV, which produces the 4G-LTE module for Audi connect; and RacoWireless, which provides the consumer and dealer interface for the system.

The carmaker has become a favorite of Connected World. In 2012, Audi won the publication's Connected Car of the Year Award in the Ultra-Luxury category for the 3G Audi connect system in the Audi A8. Last year, Audi won that award again, for the Audi connect system in the Audi S7.

Audi isn't qualified for the same award this year because its 4G-LTE Audi connect advancement isn't yet in the market, Malhotra explained. But the Connected World Award amounts to even greater recognition of Audi progress in the realm of the connected vehicle and places its achievement in the higher context of 'machine-to-machine' advances across the world of technology.