The growing partnership between the auto industry and Silicon Valley took center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show. One example that can be gleaned from these collaborations is the tie-up between Hyundai and Cisco. Together, the two companies revealed a new technology platform that brings 1 Gbps worth of Ethernet connectivity inside our cars. The technology sounds appealing for kids who will have no shortage of bandwidth to use inside a car, but the more important purpose of the tech is to allow automakers like Hyundai to load web-capable sensors and gadgetry in the name of accelerating the growth towards full-fledged autonomy.

The relationship between in-car Ethernet access and autonomous driving technology can be broken down into two things: sensors and apps.

Car companies like Hyundai that are pushing forward in developing autonomous driving technology will need sensors in their cars to act as catalysts for the tech functions they’re going to put into the vehicles. These sensors are in charge of a variety of things, including scanning surroundings, recognizing traffic conditions, and watching for debris and pedestrians. The sensors then relay what they see to the myriad of autonomous driving features that a specific car could have in the future. As more of these features become available, the need for cars to carry Ethernet-based software becomes more important.

Apps come into the picture because they can have access to these sensors, at least if there’s a technology available for it. Automakers can create specific apps for specific purposes tied into autonomous driving tech, and accessing these apps from inside a car will require a lot of data and a network that’s big enough to handle that load without breaking down.

This is what Hyundai and Cisco are bringing to the table. The latter’s expertise with computer networks helps validate the proprietary technology, something that Hyundai is expected to use for its production vehicles in the near future.

Ruba Borno, Cisco’s vice president of growth initiatives and chief of staff to the CEO, believes that the company’s partnership with Hyundai will “accelerate innovation” in the auto industry. “By creating a flexible, scalable, and secure platform, we are allowing automotive companies to deliver better cars - faster”, she added.

Hyundai has not given details on which of its models will get first dibs on Cisco's 1Gbps Ethernet networks, but it did say that the technology will be available in 2019 models of its premium lineup.

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