Shift Magazine - May 2021 - 22

BY JACK KEEBLER

othing affects your Internet
experience as powerfully as
your connection's bandwidth
and any transmission delay.
As the differences between a connected
car and a smartphone evaporate, a robust
data connection can greatly enhance a
vehicle's entertainment, weather, traffic,
communication and navigation options.
It can also ease the path to autonomy.
That's one reason some automakers
are exploring the use of low-Earth-orbit
satellites to provide the reliable, highspeed connectivity automated vehicles
need for everything from over-the-air
software updates to vehicle-to-vehicle
communication.
For two automakers, Tesla and Geely,
it's not a matter of debate. They are creating their own " constellations " of satellites
to eventually provide fast, global connectivity for their vehicles and to cut costs.

IN THE SKY
Satellite Internet could hold promise for
mobile connectivity and affordable autonomy

ROCKETING AHEAD

Literally rocketing ahead of others,
Tesla's Elon Musk is using his reusable
SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicles to lift
60 satellites at a time into low-Earth orbit
- 200 to 900 miles above the Earth's
surface.
So far, his $10 billion Starlink system
consists of approximately 1,400 satellites, on its way to 42,000. Starlink already
claims to have 10,000 beta subscribers,
or homeowners who have satellite dishes
for receiving Musk's satellite Internet
connection.
They pay a roughly $500 initial hardware
fee for a 19-inch antenna, terminal and
router and a $99 monthly fee for the highspeed, low-latency connection.
Musk plans to expand Starlink service
beyond homes and has asked the Federal
Communications Commission to widen
its connectivity authorization to moving
vehicles.
Tesla is not the only company with an
eye on the sky. Early last year, Chinese
auto and tech giant Zhejiang Geely Holding
Group announced it was investing in a $326
million satellite manufacturing plant that
will build about 500 units a year by 2025.
22

Geely says its
satellites will
enable software
updates for its
vehicles.

Toyota and Kymeta partnered
on this Mirai-based concept car
with a satellite connection for
the 2016 Detroit auto show.

Like Starlink, Geespace satellites are
destined for low-Earth orbit to enable
software updates and transmit diagnostic,
navigation, weather and user data from
the vehicle back to the company.

AUTONOMOUS ENABLER

Although it is easy to appreciate the
advantages of a bigger, more secure
global Internet pipe for streaming video
or remote navigation and communication,
the endgame play may be to significantly
lower the cost and complexity of enabling
a vehicle to operate autonomously.

There are two approaches. One is the
current, very costly model in which all
the sensing and computing power is on
board with only intermittent Internet connections. A far lower-cost and lower-power-consuming model uses off-board
artificial intelligence, cloud computing,
vehicle-to-vehicle communications and
vehicle-to-infrastructure communications
that are almost constant.
But it would be critical for that vehicle
to be securely connected to safely maintain its position within the traffic grid. It
would generate and consume enormous

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Shift Magazine - May 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Shift Magazine - May 2021