Fill 'Er Up With Wireless Data, PleaseFill 'Er Up With Wireless Data, Please

Mercedes-Benz is showing off the latest creation of its research division, a C320 sedan equipped with what the automaker says could be the Next Big Thing in wireless technology for vehicles: next-generation high-speed wireless LAN technology that can send and receive large amounts of data in spurts. The equipment in the Mercedes test car, which is part of its DriveBy InfoFueling project, is based on the emerging 802.11a wireless LAN standard. Mercedes USA gave Comdex attendees a peek last week.

The Mercedes system sent and received data from a moving vehicle at 54 Mbps in tests-many times faster than the data-transfer rates of cell-phone frequencies. The 802.11a standard has the potential to accommodate wireless LANs at speeds up to 100 Mbps.

The DriveBy InfoFueling system involves sending data in bursts as vehicles pass transceiver sites with limited range. A car, for instance, would send and receive data as it sped past a transceiver and wouldn't be able to send or receive again until it passed another base station.

"We've set up a network that has wireless hot spots the car can use to download large amounts of data as it drives by at highway speeds," says Wieland Holfelder, manager of smart vehicles research at DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology North America Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif. DaimlerChrysler is Mercedes-Benz USA's parent.

Potential uses include downloading maps, traffic data, and digital music or video without stopping or slowing down, he says. It could also be used to send data from a moving car to another vehicle, or to a person connected to a conventional LAN or the Internet.