KDDI, which is a company that provides IoT services and connected experiences to its OEM partners, has a partnership with BMW Group. KDDI, on the other hand, also has a long-standing relationship with Verizon, which in turn provides 5G and LTE connectivity. That’s why Verizon just made its partnership with BMW Group and KDDI official.
The newly formed partnership means that Verizon provides its 5G Standalone Connected Vehicles services to BMW, so all new BMW vehicles produced for the US markets will make use of Verizon’s cellular network. The press release doesn’t explicitly say which are the new models that get Verizon and KDDI’s connected driving experience.
Our educated guess is that the new Neue Klasse-based models, like the recently released iX3 and iX5, for example, will benefit from Verizon’s fast and reliable 5G network.
BMW’s Mini was also named in the press release, but seeing how the Cooper Electric, Aceman and Countryman are all models from 2023 and 2024, we will likely see KDDI and Verizon’s connected vehicle services pop up on newer models.
