Audi and Verizon Business partner on new tech at test track

An Audi test track is set to receive new technology to demonstrate and develop advance communications and mobility capabilities via a partnership with Verizon Business.

Audi and Verizon are building what the brands are calling a private wireless network and tech-testing environment at the automaker's proving ground in Neustadt, Germany. Neustadt is northwest of Audi's headquarters in Ingolstadt.

The companies said the wireless network is designed to duplicate conditions in global markets and will feature replicas of Verizon's U.S. public network, local European networks and the roaming network of Audi's mobile virtual network partner in Asia-Pacific.

The wireless telecommunications company says the network will utilize a dual 5G and LTE platform from Nokia, infrastructure that uses Amazon Web Services and real-time video and data-transmission technology.

The setup will allow Audi to develop and test vehicle-to-cloud communication, automaker-customer interaction and cellular vehicle-to-everything technology, or C-V2X, among other uses, the companies said.

Audi and Verizon did not disclose how much money they are investing in the project.

The new capabilities at the track will also take time and cost out of testing and product development cycles, Petr Kozak Audi's head of development for infotainment, connectivity, data management and artificial intelligence, said in a statement.

A Verizon spokesperson said the partnership is the first of its kind. The company anticipates that some testing activity at the track could begin by midyear with network completion in the second half of 2024.

Volkswagen Group's other brands will also have access to the track and network, the companies said.

"This is about much more than equipping a work site with a private network," said TJ Fox, Verizon Business's senior vice president of industrial Internet of Things and automotive. "This is about bringing network conditions from around the world to one test facility, allowing Audi to exceed the already lofty demands of the mobility market looking years into the future."