Omnipresent WiFi could be a reality according to ZipCar founder

Only two decades ago, wireless Internet access was a novelty, 10 years ago it became a convenience, but only in recent years, wireless Internet access has become a utility. Much like water and power, we take Internet availability for granted, until it goes away, either in a tunnel, in the woods or in one of those infamous dead zones downtown, as we try to pay for parking using a mobile app.

Robin Chase, former CEO of the car-sharing service ZipCar, has been experimenting with an effective way to ensure low-cost seamless Internet connectivity, everywhere we go.

The service, called “Veniam” has been already implemented in Portugal, where Chase received a grant of one million dollar to build a network of 600 interconnected moving vehicles in the city of Porto. The experiment has yielded impressive results, with 73% of bus riders using Veniam’s free WiFi, and moving an average of 3 Therabytes of data per month.

While free WiFi is available in most major US cities, the concept of WiFi on a moving vehicle is still very new, and currently, Veniam is the only technology able to connect such staggering number of devices, within the same network.

Chase is confident that this venture will evolve even further into the Internet of Things, using the network to allow services to talk to each other.

The range of applications is very broad: garbage trucks could use the network to detect and skip empty containers en route, as they already do in Porto, and public transport passengers would be able to get the exact ETA of the next bus, directly from the vehicle itself. Predictive mobile engines would be enhanced with richer and more up-to-date local information, such as shopping, entertainment, and even local emergencies to be aware of.

Confidence in this new venture has been building, in several interested parties, including Union Square Ventures, Cane Investments, and True Ventures, among some, from whom Veniam has already received over 4.9 million dollars in funds.

Austin, San Francisco and New York are expected to be the first three US cities in which Veniam’s free WiFi service will be operational, late in 2015.