802.11p – the one made for cars

IEEE Std 802.11p-2010, also known as Amendment 14, was built for speed – not in terms of throughput, but in terms of **mobility**. created by **Task Group p** and finalized in 2010, it introduced **WAVE – Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments**, designed specifically for communication on the road. this was Wi-Fi for cars, trucks, roadside units, and everything in between.

the focus was on **intelligent transportation systems (ITS)**. 802.11p laid the groundwork for vehicle-to-vehicle (**V2V**), vehicle-to-infrastructure (**V2I**), and vehicle-to-device (**V2D**) communication. the idea: let cars talk to each other and to traffic systems in real time – think collision warnings, traffic signal coordination, or even platooning.

technically, it reused a lot of 802.11a PHY principles but operated in a new context – especially in the **5.9 GHz band** (in the U.S., for example). it allowed for quick connection setups, minimal handshake overhead, and was optimized for high-speed environments where you don’t have time to mess around with association processes or long authentication chains.

802.11p also included **optional mechanisms for spectrum sharing** and **incumbent detection**, making sure WAVE devices could coexist with other users in the same band without interference. not quite cognitive radio, but close.

this amendment got absorbed into **802.11-2012**, and lives on in 802.11-2016 and 2020. and while the standard itself became part of **DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications)**, its influence goes beyond that – even into newer vehicular communication models like **C-V2X**.

802.11p didn’t boost your Wi-Fi at home – it helped your car see around corners. the first serious step toward connected roads and smarter traffic systems.