The heads of BMW and Deutsche Telekom have urged the German government to take action to block a European Commission proposal that would set a Wi-Fi-based standard for connected cars.
In a letter, BMW CEO Harald Krueger and Telekom’s Tim Höttjes warned that ruling out an alternative approach based on 5G mobile networks would leave Europe lagging behind rivals such as China when it comes to the future of mobility.
“We are convinced that the imposition of Wi-Fi technology will lead to a significant delay in the rollout of car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications in Europe,” the CEOs said in the letter to Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer. Viewed by Reuters.
In response to a request for comment, the German Transport Ministry said it was reviewing the reservations raised by the EU Council’s legal advisers after the working group meeting on April 5.
The ministry said that these matters must be examined before the government takes a final position on the issue.
The European Commission is seeking to set standards for connected cars, a market for carmakers, telecom operators and equipment makers expected to be worth billions of euros annually.
The Commission’s preference for the Wi-Fi-based ITS-G5 standard would give Volkswagen and Renault an advantage over BMW, Daimler, Ford and PSA Group, which favors a competing 5G standard called C-V2X.
Advocates of C-V2X, which could for example enable cars to “talk” directly to each other to avoid collisions, say the technology works on existing 4G LTE networks and will be enhanced by the rollout of 5G services.
“C-V2X is a game-changer for safety,” a coalition of groups representing the European IT and automotive industries said in a separate statement on Monday.
A key committee of European lawmakers rejected the Commission’s proposal last week. The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on Wednesday in a plenary session in which a simple majority would be needed to prevent this.
Officials in Brussels say the European Council also has a say on the issue and would also need a blocking majority to block the proposal.
