Sprint Velocity has earned yet another award since its inception as the foundation for Chrysler’s MyGig infotainment system, now known as Uconnect, less than two years ago. Sprint, currently the third largest carrier in the U.S., revealed today that the Connected Vehicle Platform has received the 2013 Chrysler Group Supplier of the Year Award for Innovation. This award joins several other awards given to the platform, including the 2014 Compass Intelligence A-List Award, the M2M Product of the Year Award, and others. The majority of Sprint, also owner of the Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Assurance Wireless brands, was purchased in 2013 by SoftBank, a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation. In an effort to optimize the company, Sprint also announced job cuts to be completed by the end of this month, which are expected to cost $160 million.
Since its launch in 2012, Sprint Velocity has aimed to provide automakers with a customizable platform on which to build in-car entertainment systems, remote telemetry, diagnostics, smartphone integration, and other services. Chrysler’s Uconnect system utilizes the platform to enable hands-free calling and texting, in-car Wi-Fi, and other services like emergency assistance and stolen vehicle tracking in a wide variety of popular models. Peter Campbell, the lead executive for Sprint Velocity and chief information officer for Sprint stated that “Since launching Sprint Velocity, our main priority has been focused on creating cutting-edge connected vehicle technology and integrating it with Sprint’s premier wireless services.” Sprint is currently the #2 telecom operator in the automotive industry, so it appears that this resolve is returning great results.
Sprint Velocity is also a very upgradeable platform, with support for popular mobile apps such as Yelp, Pandora, Slacker Radio, and others. SRT, Chrysler’s performance brand offering cars like the Viper, can even track performance information in real time and upload them to the web using Chrysler’s Uconnect Access.
In the last six years, Sprint has been rated by the American Customer Satisfaction Index as showing the most improvement in customer satisfaction across all 43 industries the index tracks. Since Marcelo Claure took over the company in August of this year, the company has made even more improvements to its image, but will it be enough to outshine their recent missteps?