Vehicle connectivity concept. Photo: Intelsat

Intelsat and Cubic³ have completed a vehicle satellite connectivity test that the companies said demonstrated an integration between Intelsat satellites and Cubic³’s software platform. 

This test announced Wednesday is part of a collaboration between Intelsat, Cubic³, and SoftBank Corp. that aims to create a connectivity solution for the land mobile industry with both cellular and satellite networks. 

Last year, Intelsat signed an agreement with Softbank to work together toward a ‘ubiquitous network’ concept connecting cars, ships, and drones. Now Intelsat has signed an MoU with Cubic³, a connectivity solutions company that focuses on the automotive and agriculture sectors and is majority owned by Softbank. 

Intelsat said the test focused on a commercial land mobile use case featuring Intelsat’s FlexMove Fleet product and Cubic³ Cloud interface, and the viability of integrated connectivity solutions for heavy machinery customers. 

The roadmap for the future connected vehicle concept would use Geostationary (GEO) satellites for applications such as fleet management, telematics, predictive maintenance, and software updates in areas beyond terrestrial coverage. The system would also support higher-bandwidth use cases like high-definition map downloads, and cloud-based vehicle diagnostics using digital twins, “as new Low Earth Orbit constellations launch,” Intelsat said. 

“Our work with Intelsat is foundational to delivering on the promise of software-defined vehicles. Car manufacturers need global, high-speed, always-on connectivity to transform into software-first entities and meet evolving consumer mobility demands. This test demonstrates how our technologies can work together to enable that future,” Cubic³ CTO Nick Power said in a statement. 

Also this week during the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) F2F event, Cubic³ and Skylo announced a partnership on an automotive eSIM solution to support both terrestrial and satellite connectivity.