A little-noticed agreement, signed on the sidelines of October’s Sino-German “joint cabinet” summit could help determine the shape of internet connectivity and autonomous driving – where vehicles do some of the thinking – in the world’s largest car market.

Deutsche Telekom, which agreed to build a car network with state-owned China Mobile, also hopes the deal will open a backdoor on to a previously closed market, illustrating the potential opportunities stemming from advances in connected cars.

The two companies will marry China Mobile’s nationwide 4G network to an operating system Deutsche Telekom currently uses for 2m German vehicles. China Mobile, the world’s largest cellular company, will have built the world’s biggest 4G network, with 500,000 base stations and 50m subscribers, by the end of this year.