Land Rover Defender Bristles With Technology

The first-generation Land Rover Defender was definitely an old-school off-roader with a design that dated back to right after WWII ended. Instead of just doing a soft update, the long-awaited second generation of the SUV fully embraces quite a bit of cutting-edge tech. Land Rover is really playing this up during CES 2020, which seems appropriate.

One of the more impressive features is the dual eSIM connectivity, a first for a production vehicle. It uses two Qualcomm Snapdragon 820Am Automotive Platforms, which each have an integrated Snapdragon X12 modem, keeping the SUV connected to the cloud pretty much constantly. This allows for over-the-air updates like what Teslas receive, something surprisingly few cars have today. The setup also means you can stream music without screwing up any critical updates coming in.

Speaking of cloud-based computing, the Defender also uses CloudCar tech to personalize in-vehicle content and services. Some people will love to use certain things that others will find pointless, so the system is supposed to learn what you like and use, changing things on the infotainment screen to better suit your preferences and needs.

There’s also an abundance of driver-assistance tech from Bosch. We’ve seen a lot of these things in cars lately, and everyone has an opinion on them. One of the most interesting features is the 3D Surround Camera System, which allows you as the driver to find the combined camera angle that is best for different situations. That could be quite useful while travelling on a trail, if anyone dares to wreck these new expensive toys.