Situated near the Georgia Tech campus in midtown Atlanta, the AT&T Drive Studio is a one-of-a-kind innovation center designed to bring together automakers and wireless experts for collaboration on the future of the connected vehicle.
Opened in 2014, the 5,000-square-foot AT&T Drive Studio is billed by the carrier as a place “to take our innovations from the whiteboard to the dashboard. … We are able to work with auto companies from all over the globe to enhance the driving experience by improving safety, diagnostics, entertainment and security.”
On a recent trip to Atlanta, AT&T invited RCR Wireless News inside the Drive Studio to learn more about the cutting-edge work that takes place there.
Todd Rose, a self-avowed “car guy” and the lead product development manager for AT&T Drive, explained the work that’s done at the facility and showed as a mock-up vehicle dash that allows for easy hardware installation.
“This is really a way that we can demo to our partners and our customers the services that we’re building on top of the LTE service,” Rose said. “So, very easy for me to move different hardware into this. If there’s any changes that need to be done, [they] can be done very easily. Certainly, it’s a great tool for us to use to show our customers and our partners how we’re evolving in this space.”
AT&T’s connected car services are based on the AT&T Drive platform, which Rose laid out: “AT&T Drive is a very modular platform. Its applications and services that are intended for the driver to use in a safe manner. One of the things AT&T has really tried to do, and the foundation of the Drive Studio, is to create services in the car that don’t increase distraction in the vehicle.”
In the video above, Rose demonstrates some of the services enabled by Drive Studio including integration with smart home functionality, geofencing and more.
