The vehicle, a product of Continental's collaboration with Cisco, showcases connectivity offering robust, reliable, high speed and highly secure technology to drivers.

Continental's demonstration vehicle is equipped with secure and seamless network technology. It includes a so-called “super pipe”, which is able to aggregate all available data channels, including the driver's and passengers' mobile phones to provide a faster and more reliable data transfer, managed by the vehicle router. This also allows the user or OEM to set the management priority for the bandwidth so that, for example, a child's video stream does not interrupt an important WebEx call.

The vehicle includes secure cloud-based threat protection, multi-layered firewalls, advanced connection management and seamless channel and source switching. This means downloads won't be interrupted when the vehicle needs to switch sources (for example, between LTE and Wi-Fi). Even if all of the connections drop completely while driving through a tunnel for example, the download won't restart at the beginning but at the point it dropped off. Since the router also manages the V2X communications channel (DSRC), it has the power to use one of the other redundant communication channels as a failsafe to always keep the vehicle connected.

‘Taking into account Automated Driving or Intelligent Transportation Systems, one thing becomes clear:  Connected, smart services and applications will drive future mobility,’ said Jeff Klei, president of Continental North America. ‘Continental has set itself the vision to provide trusted and reliable connectivity for the future of mobility.’

‘With our developments and our collaboration with Cisco, we strive to make connectivity to the digital world a secure, reliable and enjoyable experience and give answers for the connectivity challenge of moving vehicles,’ said Mr Klei.

At the Expo, Mr Klei will participate in "The Pros & Cons of Connected Autonomy" panel. The discussion will focus on the pros and cons of an Internet-tethered autonomous car and provide insight on technological advancements for tomorrow's roads.