Of all the high-tech, luxury-inducing features available in today's cars, one of the most popular is a 4G LTE connection that can turn any vehicle into a rolling hotspot. After all, consumers are always demanding more from their data. Navigation systems offer increasingly detailed information, backseat entertainment systems pioneer new ways to keep the kids quiet, and with systems like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, portable devices need to deliver ever more information.

The thing about a 4G connection is that it's not enough, at least not for much longer. As cars become more and more like living rooms on wheels, they'll need more and more data. It's not just the ability to stream Netflix and download videogames while on the move. It's the ability to download high-def 3-D maps, likely to be crucial for autonomous driving applications. It's access to real-time weather information and local gas prices. It's over the air updates that make the car's software better as it ages.

That's why Toyota's over the idea of 4G connections. It thinks that meeting our increasing and insatiable demands, at a reasonable price, in rural areas and developing countries requires a system that doesn't rely on having a cell phone tower nearby. It needs a system capable of satellite communication, which allows for the transmission of much more data at a lower cost, and can beam data it anywhere on the planet.

That's why the Japanese automaker's working with Kymeta. The Washington-based communications technology company makes the "mTenna," a satellite antenna that's just half an inch thick. The Kymeta antenna is made up of a liquid crystal gap layer between two circuit boards or sheets of glass. It can be electronically reconfigured to point right at the satellite, which means no moving parts and no heavy, very un-aerodynamic dish that needs to swing this way and that as the vehicle it's on moves around.

The technology should debut for unspecified maritime applications next year. More exciting for most consumers is that Kymeta's antenna is made for use on planes (think actually good in-air Wi-Fi) and now, cars.

"If you believe the car will follow the same data consumption trends as the home, the most logical path to access this is from space," says Dr. Nathan Kundtz, Kymeta's founder and CEO. "Unlimited, inexpensive data from space."

At the Detroit Auto Show this month, Toyota showed off a hydrogen-powered Mirai sedan with Kymeta's antenna built into the roof. Kymeta's technology "could solve the challenge of vehicle-based satellite communications," says Shigeki Tomoyama, who runs Toyota's intelligent transportation research efforts.

Because a passenger car needs less data than an airliner carrying hundreds of passengers, the automotive version of Kymeta's antenna will likely be six inches in diameter. That's roughly the size of a small personal pizza, compared to the extra large pie-sized unit made for aircraft. It needs so little power, it can run of a USB cable.

The Mirai in Detroit is just a research vehicle, but represents the progress Toyota and Kymeta have made since joining forces in September 2013. "We have spent the last three years really proving out, at increasing levels of maturity, the possibility of doing this," Kundtz says. He declined to reveal when it might hit the market, or how much it would cost, but says the "goal is to make it as affordable as possible."