Milestone after milestone. That’s the story of the German automaker, Volkswagen. After diving into the electric vehicles, the company is developing a technology called the Public Wireless Local Area Network (pWLAN).The pWLAN technology create a mesh network between the cars and uses this network to communicate with the other cars on the road.
2019 will be the year when the Volkswagen cars will have the ability to communicate with the other cars on the road and transfer information about the infrastructure to each other. These cars will further communicate about the traffic, routes, road blocks etc.
The communication will be between cars and between cars and transport infrastructure as well. Volkswagen says that the range of communication will be approximately 500 meters, to begin with.
The technology in question, is the IEEE 802.11p (pWLAN) standard. The company has standardized and tested for direct, non-proprietary, inter-vehicle communication. The cars will use a specific frequency band that will be solely for the purpose of road safety and traffic emergency.
This technology will virtually make it possible to see what is beyond the next turn or 500 meters ahead on the road.
"We want to increase road safety with the aid of networked vehicles, and the most efficient way of achieving this is through the rapid roll-out of a common technology", explains Johannes Neft, Head of Vehicle Body Development for the Volkswagen brand. "What matters most is that the technology is used consistently, and by as many manufacturers and partners as possible."
