Volkswagen plans to make its cars “talk” to each other starting 2019 as the German car manufacturer wants to equip its vehicles with public wireless LAN (pWLAN). This technology will allow cars and transport infrastructure to send messages to other cars with a distance of up to 500 meters. Cars can get information about things like traffic jams, accidents, or even other vehicles coming out of an alley. Volkswagen even wants to equip fire trucks and ambulances with pWLAN tech so you’d know where the sirens are coming from. With pWLAN, you don’t have to worry about getting a data plan either as it’ll send messages via pWLAN, which uses its own frequency band and not cellular networks. And since this complies with industry standards for cars, you can communicate with any car fitted with pWLAN.
Initially, the system will be limited to local information and warnings. As the tech rolls out, it’ll be getting more features like real-time traffic light monitoring and the info on emergency service vehicles.