Bloomberg Businessweek|Business|September 20, 2021 pp21 “Self-Driving Cars Fuel Space Race 3.0” “Satellites may solve automaker’s need for systems that can handle big data” “THE BOTTOM LINE Data capacity will be key for carmakers’ future profits, supporting autonomous vehicles and long-lasting revenue streams including updatable infotainment systems.”
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Extensions of current satellite and 5G technologies may be essential to ensure reliable autonomous vehicles. A side benefit, for carmakers, is the potential ability to be paid for delivering infotainment to vehicles.
The key need is the capability to manage “as much as 40 terrabytes of data an hour from cameras, radar, and other sensors-equivalent to an iPhone’s use over 3,000 years-and suck massive amounts more to navigate roads, according to Morgan Stanley.”
Unbeknownst to most of us, new cars “come with a modem under the dashboard and receive data via the same towers that serve your cell phone.” As we likely do know, cell tower coverage “can be spotty” in densely populated areas and is unavailable in more report destinations because “only 10% to 15% of the air surface is covered by cellular networks.”
As autonomous vehicles need an uninterrupted stream of data, solutions are needed to enable "fully" autonomous driving. Other challenges are that even for low altitude satellites (Cubesats, like those from Space X) “the time it takes for a signal to travel from space to a car” is still too long. Further but more obvious to cell phone users, is that satellite signals are blocked by “everyday obstructions-parking garages” etc. 5G land-based signals may be able to circumvent this issue.
The key companies making or accomodating low altitude satellites are SpaceX and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. (A Chinese Automaker) and Viasat, Inc. (Satellite broadband).
“CEO Matt Desch (Iridium Communications) sums it up “‘It’s a big race called Space 3.0” and that “The last thing a car manufacturer really wants is to pick badly.”