VNC Automotive
Date:
27th October 2026
Working with VNC Automotive for over two years the project took a typical journey from proof of concept, extended trial and into operational deployment.
“The elegance of utilising a software driven mirroring technology makes ease of deployment with Cobalt Cube a compelling solution. Coupled with the ability to quickly add functionality and upgrade features at a later date is highly appealing. Working with VNC Automotive’s team has been a brilliant experience, their responsiveness to our needs has been exemplary; it’s been the best technical support I’ve ever experienced.”
– Fleet Operations Manager
Major regional European Police Force selects Cobalt Cube® for wide-scale deployment
A major regional European police force, covering over 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 square miles) with around 20,000 officers and staff, serving a population of over 8 million people, has adopted VNC Automotive’s Cobalt Cube vehicle integration solution. Working with VNC Automotive for over two years the project took a typical journey from proof of concept, extended trial and into operational deployment. Having made several repeat purchases the deployment is heading towards 1,000 fully equipped vehicles; and is expected to increase to over 4,000 vehicles in total.
The Challenge
A significant challenge for the force was how to support an existing highly diversified fleet including Ford, Renault, Opal, Skoda, SEAT and numerous other models; whilst undergoing a rolling fleet modernization programme that has introduced new specialized vehicles including Cupra Terramar SUVs and heavy-duty 4×4 options such as the Ineos Grenadier for rural and advanced command deployments.
The Solution
Cobalt Cube’s plug-and-play ability to support the widest range of vehicles along with its core capability to connect multiple devices simultaneously was vital to the success. The key critical equipment to be controlled included:
- Zebra Android Tablets;
- Windows PCs; and
- Android and iOS Phones.
The Zebra Android Tablets run customised “mobile office” applications including job dispatch tightly coupled with navigation, secure police database access and record keeping. The ruggedized Windows PCs control Axon based real-time camera feeds, for both internal vehicle use for prisoner monitoring; as well as live internet video calls back to base; also external vehicle camera monitoring to provide live scene processing and recording. Support for both Android and iPhones enables a variety of utility applications, running on the phones, to be displayed on and controlled from the vehicle screen.
Next phases of the project will add direct connectivity via CAN bus to control light bars, sirens and matrix message display boards.
The Results
Following a short two-day training workshop, with the customer’s chosen up-fitter, the total Cobalt Cube solution, and all companion devices, is installed, configured and tested in less than two hours per vehicle. This is significantly less than the legacy video switching technologies that require a much more intrusive installation process. Not to mention their capability being largely limited to switching HDMI video feeds, that are often incompatible with modern vehicle screens with many different resolutions.
Where Cobalt Cube really wins out is its use of standard connectivity protocols that are becoming as ubiquitous as Bluetooth across a large range of vehicles. This avoids situations where typical video switching technologies take over the whole screen and frequently obscure critical vehicle functions, such as being able to see the vehicle speedometer (as it the case in the Ineos Grenadier) as well as hiding functions such as heating and ventilation controls, audio volume, door locking and reversing cameras.
The ability to switch between and control multiple devices from the single OEM vehicle screen has been hugely beneficial saving dashboard real estate, reducing cabin clutter and making a far safer and ergonomic experience for the officers. This is highly important as many officers use the vehicles as a mobile office especially in remote and rural districts.
Cobalt Cube provides a common solution with an identical look and feel across a wide range of OEM brands and vehicle models. This is highly important so that officers are presented with a single consistent user interface improving ease of use when driving a selection of different vehicles.
“Once again it is exciting to see yet another great customer engagement, moving from a modest start to a fundamental part of the daily operations across the force. Culturally everyone at VNC Automotive is dedicated to customer success; we value customer feedback and work closely with our customers, striving to provide product improvements that really make a difference. It’s a real credit to the whole team.”
– Tom Blackie, CEO, VNC Automotive Ltd.
27th October 2026