Dublin startup Cubic’s software now connecting a million cars

The next generation of cars and trucks are getting a lot more connected thanks in part to a Dublin startup.

Cubic Telecom, a company that creates software for connecting cars to LTE mobile networks, now has software in more than a million cars as they roll off the line. The privately-held startup announced the major milestone at the Mobile World Congress  in Barcelona Monday.

The software, installed in new vehicles, enables the cars’ systems to log into any high-speed mobile network. The company began rolling out the software 15 months ago. Today, those Cubic-enabled smart cars  are in 35 countries and on 40 different mobile networks.

According to a company news release, Cubic is  the first developer to reach a million connected cars.

“Scaling for growth is the company’s key focus,” says Barry Napier, Cubic Telecom CEO.

Napier says the million car milestone is important, because it enables the vehicle manufacturers to grow out a host of in-car applications that use the internet.

“Cubic is not here to replace the role of the mobile network operator,” says Napier. “Rather, integrating our technology into their core architecture has ensured we are the trusted enabler to connect the car onto any network globally.”

Having internet connectivity in cars may be a selling point to consumers now, but as self-driving vehicles become more of a reality, the connectivity will be increasingly critical.

Because cars are shipped globally and are mobile by nature, the Cubic software must be meet local regulatory requirements. According to the Cubic news release, the software appears in several brands, including ones with the Volkswagen Group like Volkswagen and Audi.

Cubic’s system works on the Microsoft Azure cloud system. In January, the company announced it partnered with San Francisco-based Qualcomm to develop in-car apps using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon modem.