The European Parliament has dismissed objections from its transport committee over the European Commission's proposal for a connected car standard. This effectively opens up the way to the Wi-Fi based 802.11p standard for short-range communications to be endorsed by the EU for vehicle communications, as opposed to the Cellular-V2X (C-V2X) technology based on LTE and 5G and supported by the mobile industry.
The transport committee had rejected the Commission's proposal to focus on Wi-Fi technology for connected car infrastructure and said the EU should take a more technology-neutral approach. The Commission's proposal for minimum technical requirements for Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) takes the form of a delegated regulation. This means it takes effect automatically within two months if the Parliament or Council do not expressly vote to revoke the regulation. With the Parliament declining to take up the transport committee's resolution and objections, only the Council can now block the measure.
Prior to the Parliament's vote, the mobile industry had again expressed its opposition to the proposal, in a joint statement from the industry groups GSMA, ETNO, GSA and 5GAA. They argue that the adoption of the Wi-Fi standard could slow the development of 5G in Europe, as well as put at risk competitiveness and safety in the auto sector. The longer range capabilities of C-V2X on mobile networks would provide greater safety as well as easier integration with existing smartphones.
