High-Speed Ethernet via Licensed PTP Link Keeps Autonomous Car Project On Track

The Problem

Glydways is a mass transit company working on providing the mobility solutions of the future. Programs Director Lynn Tao was tasked with setting up a proving facility to develop a technical prototype of the company’s personalized autonomous vehicle project. The project would not only support the function of the prototype fleet itself, but also the bandwidth needs of the engineering team developing it. With an aggressive building schedule, the team couldn’t afford any downtime. It was Amy’s job to provide everything the project required. The remote location in Concord, CA, was perfect except for one thing – it had no access to high-speed wireline internet. The only wireless service available could not handle the demand. The team couldn’t access their VPN, and Wi-FI covering the site was spotty. Losing days of development was not an option. Lynn had heard about Etheric’s expertise in point-to-point networks and reached out for help.

The Solution

Etheric representative Ken Sadamasa understood Amy’s challenges and immediately set up a field engineer visit. The initial plan was to explore building a dedicated base station to serve the site, using a nearby water tower. Lynn was willing to try anything, and fortunately, the solution to her problem ended up being much easier!

During the site visit senior field engineer Tomas Aguirre was able to confirm line of site to one of our main towers, making a licensed point to point link possible – and fast!

The link was installed within days and has performed flawlessly. Being able to quickly and easily achieve the connectivity they needed was a huge relief for Lynn and her team, who thought that installing a dedicated tower was going to be their only option.

The Result

I am so impressed with Etheric Networks. Our testing grounds require rock-solid internet and low latency. Our existing provider could not keep up with our bandwidth needs, and the service was becoming unreliable. We didn’t know where to turn! The way Etheric responded to our call for help told me that this is the kind of project they like best. To learn that they could deliver a super-fast, low-latency FCC-licensed link in just days was such a relief. I can’t thank Etheric enough for solving so many problems so quickly!