Ericsson has begun beta testing a new service in San Francisco that helps autonomous vehicles, drones, and other unmanned vehicles to predict wireless connectivity from multiple operators across a planned route.
The new Ericsson Routes service is described as "Waze" for wireless cellular quality. Ericsson Routes provides a single integration point and a consistent prediction engine for autonomous vehicles across all their wireless service providers.
The beta program is the first step in a journey that will see the Basic Service reaching commercial limited availability in April 2022. During the second half of 2022, Ericsson will launch the Premium Service in partnership with wireless service providers.
The Basic Service provides connectivity awareness along a path from point A to point B with its uplink blind spot detector (available with the beta program) and the uplink throughput prediction (available at the time of commercial limited availability).
The upcoming Ericsson Routes Premium Service, to be launched in partnership with wireless service providers, will provide a finer, real-time granularity that addresses critical connectivity requirements along the trip from point A to point B.
The beta program is first available in San Francisco, California, while the commercial limited availability release will expand the service to Houston, Texas. Additional markets may be added based on customer feedback. The Premium Service is expected to initially cover the same areas as the Basic Service plus Las Vegas, Nevada.
