eSIM in car set to jazz up your weekend road trips

New Delhi: In October 2013, GSMA which is the mobile network operators’ trade body worldwide, revealed it was developing a new kind of SIM that could be soldered in place and then programmed to connect to a chosen carrier remotely. GSMA called this the embedded SIM, or eSIM for short, which has potential for several “connected” devices like smartwatches, smartphones, homes — and cars.

Several automakers came forward to back this move, like General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Renault Nissan, Scania and Volvo Cars. The Cloud-connected virtual eSIMs would enable automakers remotely provision connectivity over the air to vehicles with an operator of their choice. These were to deliver a range of in-vehicle services such as infotainment, real-time navigation, insurance and breakdown services, as well as telematics and remote diagnostics.

Hyundai has come with an inbuilt Vodafone-Idea eSIM card for its compact SUV called Venue. The SUV does not need the user’s smartphone to connect to plethora of options like entertainment, navigation and emergency response etc. MG Motors has entered the race with an SUV named Hector. It is supposed to launch in India in the latter half of the year. (IANS)

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