When Counting Broadband Users, Remember Connected Vehicles

Broadband infrastructure may be the latest public utility connecting homes and businesses, but it’s also foundational to the emergence of “smart roads” and autonomous vehicles (AVs). Much of the discussion around broadband expansion has been focused, appropriately, on connecting large swaths of the nation with no Internet or less-than-stellar infrastructure. But the need for rapid connectivity infrastructure is essential to much of the real-time, vehicle-to-everything environment needed to support the widespread application of AVs—and to emerging transportation innovations like drones or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), Arizona Commerce Authority and eX2 Technology recently announced a partnership to deploy more than 400 miles of fiber-optic communication infrastructure along interstate highways to push out middle-mile broadband to rural homes and businesses and support connected vehicle technologies.