European member states oppose rules on WiFi-based standard for cars auto

EU member states vetoed the European Commission’s proposal for a Wi-Fi-based standard for connected cars on Thursday. This is a victory for parties advocating a 5G-based standard for mobile internet.

Of the 28 European member states, 21 voted against the European Commission’s proposal to establish rules for ITS-G5 for connected cars, Reuters writes. Those rules would give the use of that standard a major boost in the short term. Among the countries that voted against were Germany, France and Italy. ITS-G5 is based on the IEEE 802.11p.

This Wi-Fi protocol adds WAVE technology, or wireless access in vehicular environments, to the 802.11 standard. The standard uses 10MHz channels in the 5.9GHz frequency band and should enable rapid establishment of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure connections. The technology also takes into account the reflection of signals from other vehicles and buildings.

The rejection of ITS-G5 is a setback for NXP, Volkswagen, Renault and Toyota, among others. Those companies pointed to the possibility of deploying ITS-G5 now, as opposed to 5G alternatives. ITS-G5 has already been standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute for Intelligent Transport Systems

The 5G Automotive Association welcomes the decision. This association includes BMW and Qualcomm. 5GAA supports the adoption of C-V2X, a mobile internet based 5G standard. Proponents of this technique emphasize the advantages of 5G and the fact that this standard is supported by the US and China. In addition, Cellular-V2X enables connections from vehicles to many more devices. Incidentally, the European Commission already promised three years after the introduction of the rules for ITS-G5, to look at alternative technologies for connected cars.