Reimagining the Connected Car Experience for One of the World’s Largest Automakers
Our Clients
Engagement Overview
Our client is one of the world’s largest automakers, with millions of vehicles on the road and an aggressive vision for connected, software-defined cars. They needed a next-generation Connected Services Platform to power in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems and mobile apps with real-time vehicle data, intelligent services, and premium digital experiences. Their three-year-old platform could not scale, secure, or perform at the level drivers now expect.
TechBlocks was selected to design and deliver a fully modernized Connected Services Platform. We rebuilt the core from the ground up for real-time data ingestion, advanced telematics, and global-scale reliability, while preserving compatibility with existing vehicle APIs and model lines.
Key Challenges
The existing connected services stack struggled to keep up with the demands of modern vehicles & drivers.
It lacked the scalability to support millions of cars, the performance to handle real-time telematics, and the security and uptime required for a flagship global brand. New data-intensive use cases were blocked by platform limitations, slowing innovation across IVI and mobile experiences.
Legacy Platform Not Built for Scale
The three-year-old Connected Services Platform was not designed to support millions of connected vehicles. It struggled with concurrent vehicle connections, could not scale cleanly across sedan, SUV, crossover, and sport model lines, and limited the ability to launch new services as adoption grew.
Limited Real-Time Data Ingestion & Telematics
The legacy system could not reliably ingest sensor or GPS data in real time or support advanced telematics capabilities. Features such as remote start/stop, driver scoring, AI-based recommendations, and geofencing were difficult or impossible to deliver at scale, which held back the connected vehicle roadmap.
Security Gaps & Inconsistent Uptime
Security safeguards were limited compared to current best practices. Encryption and protocol standards needed to be upgraded, and uptime targets were not consistently met. This created risk for both customer trust and brand reputation in a highly visible, safety-critical environment.
Underwhelming Driver Experience & Responsiveness
Drivers and passengers increasingly expected fast, responsive, and personalized digital experiences in the car. The existing platform fell short on API responsiveness and lacked the integrations needed for live traffic, local search, payments, and real-time vehicle health insights. This created friction across IVI and mobile journeys.
Approach & Solutions
1. Connected Services Platform Architecture
We designed and delivered a new Connected Services Platform focused on scalability, resiliency, and backward compatibility with existing interfaces.
- Designed a modern, cloud-native Connected Services Platform to replace the legacy core
- Architected for horizontal scale to support more than 1 million concurrent vehicle connections
- Preserved backward compatibility with existing APIs so current vehicle models and apps could integrate without disruptive rewrites
- Established clear service boundaries to support future feature development and model line expansion
2. Real-Time Data Ingestion & Telematics Intelligence
We engineered a real-time data ingestion and inference engine to unlock advanced telematics features and data-intensive use cases.
- Built a real-time ingestion layer for sensor, GPS, and vehicle status data from millions of connected vehicles
- Implemented a telematics engine to power scheduled remote start/stop, geofencing, and other remote vehicle control features
- Enabled driver safety scoring and AI-based recommendations using live and historical driving behavior signals
- Expanded real-time vehicle health analytics to include door status, tire pressure, battery, fuel level, and other critical parameters
3. Ecosystem Integrations & In-Car Experience
We focused on integrating the platform with external data providers and payment-enabled services to deliver a richer digital experience in and around the vehicle.
- Integrated live traffic, weather, and point-of-interest services
- Enabled secure, payment-enabled use cases such as parking reservations and related convenience services
- Connected IVI systems and mobile applications to the platform to deliver consistent, real-time data and services across channels
- Supported multiple sedan, SUV, crossover, and sport model lines so features could scale across the portfolio
4. Reliability, Security, & Performance Engineering
We ensured the platform could meet strict automotive-grade expectations on uptime, latency, and protection.
- Designed the architecture for a minimum 99.99% uptime SLA using geo-redundant cloud infrastructure
- Tuned services and APIs to achieve response times of 2 seconds or less for in-car and mobile interactions
- Strengthened platform security using X.509 certificates, TLS 1.3, and enterprise-grade encryption for data in transit and at rest
- Implemented observability and monitoring to track platform health, throughput, and latency at global scale
Impact & Results
The automaker moved from a constrained, aging connected services stack to a modern platform capable of supporting millions of vehicles, rich digital features, and global-scale telematics.
Drivers experienced faster, more intelligent, and more secure connected services, while the client gained a strategic foundation for future software-defined vehicle initiatives.
Events per second
The platform was engineered to process over 1 million events per second and support more than 1 million concurrent vehicle connections as adoption grew, enabling sustained global expansion of connected services.
API response time
API response times of 2 seconds or less delivered a fluid in-car and mobile experience, improving how quickly drivers could access remote controls, live services, and vehicle status.
Minimum uptime
The platform achieved a near-perfect 99.9% uptime through geo-redundant cloud infrastructure, improving reliability and reducing the risk of outages across key markets.
Ready to start the conversation?
Share your most pressing challenges and priorities with our team, and let’s explore what’s possible.