Can vehicle connectivity be trusted when terrestrial networks fail?

Until now, automotive connectivity has largely evolved on the premise of terrestrial networks. However, ensuring a consistently stable connection through terrestrial networks alone is becoming increasingly difficult—particularly in disaster situations or in remote areas such as deserts and mountainous regions.

With satellite communications moving into full-scale commercialization, automobiles are now expected to remain connected anytime, anywhere. For OEMs, this is a fundamental question about how to define vehicle safety, brand credibility, and the scalability of future connected services.

LG views this challenge not simply as 'how to improve connectivity performance,' but from the perspective of how to design and take full responsibility for connectivity performance which is consistently realized in real vehicle environments.
This is because OEM performance issues today are less often caused by individual component limitations, and more frequently determined by how the overall system is structured and coordinated.

 

First, uncertainty in connectivity performance is fundamentally a system design problem.

In terrestrial network dead zones, complex RF environments, and across varying vehicle packaging, real-world performance is difficult to predict from datasheets alone.
As connectivity-dependent features — eCall, SVT, and OTA — continue to grow, the role expected of Tier 1 suppliers is shifting from simply meeting specifications to engineering performance at the design stage that accounts for the real vehicle environment.

 

Second, connectivity performance issues quickly become accountability issues because design responsibilities are structurally fragmented.

When NAD, antennas, and system integration are handled by different entities, it becomes difficult to clearly define root causes and respond quickly.
Connectivity performance must be designed and explained as a single unit of responsibility — and the more integrated the design structure, such as LG's Smart Telematics-based approach, the more feasible it becomes to explain and coordinate performance.

 

Finally, new environments such as satellite communications clearly expose the limits of a component-centric approach.

Overlapping frequency environments between terrestrial and satellite networks, and software-based performance tuning, cannot be solved by simply adding functionality.
Preparing for the future means evolving the telematics architecture to absorb change — a point that becomes even more significant when considering the shift from today's terrestrial-centric 5G toward a satellite-expanded foundation, especially in the context of 6G.

LG proposes a Satellite-ready Smart Telematics structure that enables OEMs to adopt satellite connectivity without significant burden. Smart Telematics integrates 5G, satellite (NTN), and short-range communications into a single architecture, providing a scalable roadmap from IoT-NTN to NR-NTN tailored to OEM requirements.

As a result, OEMs can proactively respond to the future benchmark of 'vehicles connected anytime, anywhere' while minimizing vehicle architecture changes and development burden. In May 2025, LG demonstrated the world's first IoT-NTN-based voice service at 5GAA, leading the advancement of satellite communication technologies.

LG is also currently developing NR-NTN technology capable of supporting data communications and preparing for commercialization through field tests with major satellite service operators.