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Very cool, this reminds me of the TED talk by ZipCar founder who wants cars to become wi-fi spots, creating an ad-hoc national network. http://www.ted.com/inde

• electromagnetic 17y ago
  I wonder how much money a car manufacturer could bring in by turning their entire vehicle output as wi-fi spots for a mesh network. I know there are tel-co's in my area that want customers but cannot buy-out the fibre network from competitors. As they're already cellular providers a wi-fi mesh network with 3G internet could enable them access to an entire city. It could be simple to establish, simply offer everyone with a warranty free in-vehicle wi-fi when they bring it in for anything. With every warrantied vehicle required to return for an oil change within 3-6 months, you can turn tens of thousands of cars into a wi-fi mesh. This could turn dense-urban areas into mesh networks very rapidly, with a maximum of 6 months till a dense network is developed. Heck add a processor, ram and a SSD to the wi-fi device and you could sell your car network's processing power for use as a supercomputer for data crunching purposes. The potential is massive and could provide major innovation and income opportunities that vehicle manufacturers have never thought of.
  • mey 17y ago
    I always figured there was an interesting opportunity for mesh networks on cars going down the highway. From car to car communication, transporting large data chunks down the highway (stored on car for several mile between mesh endpoints), or even emergency broadcasts.