Toyota: Make sure WiFi doesn’t threaten car safety – 11/14/13

The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

by David Shepardson

Washington — Toyota Motor Corp. told a House Committee on Wednesday that the government should not move forward with a plan to allow expanded parts of the wireless spectrum for Internet access until testing can ensure it won’t threaten auto safety advances.

John Kenney, principal research manager at the Toyota Info Technology Center in California, told the House Energy and Commerce panel overseeing technology that the Federal Communications Commission should not move forward until viable technology-sharing is demonstrated — and “if it can be proven that no harmful interference will impair the safety-of-life mission for which that spectrum is allocated.”

Kenney said, “We don’t want a mom driving a car down the road with kids in the back seat, and because she happens to be driving by a coffee shop that’s using Wi-Fi, her collision-avoidance system turns off.”

Click here to view the full article from the Detroit News