VIDEO INTERVIEW: Chuck Link, Verizon Telematics CTO, says almost every single car manufacturer he deals with has jumped to LTE, but warns that future-proofing the nascent connected car market will need 5G connectivity modules that can easily replace old 4G connections.

“Every few years mobile infrastructure changes, and in five years we’ll be looking at 5G,” said Link in a recent interview with Mobile World Live. “There needs to be a solution in the vehicle that potentially allows a replaceable module, and it’s something we have to embrace. The wireless industry is more responsible for this than the automotive industry.”

Future-proofing the connected car – which will be needed since owners tend not to switch models nearly so often as their phones – will also involve a hybrid approach, said Link, where OEM-centric services (such as safety and maintenance) might be embedded into the dashboard, while more consumer-centric services (streaming audio, for example) might be accessed on mounted devices that can be replaced as devices improve.

Aside from providing connectivity, Link sees a much bigger role for mobile operators in the connected car ecosystem, including valued-added services – roaming management, for example – and adding security features to the communications link.

“Nearly every OEM [in car manufacturing] is more concerned about privacy than anyone else in the industry, particular German ones,” said Link. “They are going to enforce data retention policies that demand that data is removed and only the minimum required to do business is stored in the back office.”

Watch the whole video here.