Will Cybertruck be the first car to use Starlink for connectivity?

[israndy]

You could use a fiberglass hood. I think that would be transparent to microwaves.

 

[ChrML]

You could use a fiberglass hood. I think that would be transparent to microwaves.

Kinda ruins the "tank" aspect of the vehicle by having a weak hood though.

 

[Janus]

I would definitely give up a bit of the Frunk space to have this thing embedded into the hood, assuming that's even possible for the signal to go through the Stainless Steel? Or would it be exposed but flush with the rest of the hood?

It could be (nearly) flush. Look at most any modern US Navy warship, their phased array radars are flush mounted with the hull (they just stick out a bit).

 

[Sasmania]

What about having it emerge from the tailgate somehow? Lots of people think the back end of the CT is the weirdest / ugliest part of the truck so having a pizza-sized plate back there might not be the end of the world.

It could look like the tail of a stainless steel dinosaur. Maybe Elon can make it wag?

I mean, you really want it to work in motion, just not once you're parked. Maybe not today, but think about when FSD really works and you can Netflix while rolling down the road.

 

[mrbulk]

I already signed up with Starlink a few weeks earlier about being notified, and then just today got a request for an exact location as they refine their start-up region priorities.

Hmmm, is this how SkyNet becomes self-aware...? ("Ah'll be bockkk...")

 

[israndy]

I will be interested to see where they start, I shouldn't have put my bay area address. They have TONs of people here.

 

[sunlee44]

Any update since July 2020? It's already been 1 yr... thanks

 

[israndy]

Still no new cT's to discover things from. At least StarLink is progressing apace, lots of customers already, I ordered my StarLink, but still no VIN as it were. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

[kaffine]

For those that don't know the Starlink dish moves while tracking the satellite. Maybe when they have the full constellation up it won't need to move anymore and can just use the phases array electronic steering to change satellites as there will be less angle between them.

 

[israndy]

I haven't read the manual but those satellites move so fast that the only reason for the dish to move is during setup, find the clearest part of the sky. When they place them on Airplanes I am sure they will be stationary, probably the same for the cars when the dishes get small enough.

 

[kaffine]

I haven't read the manual but those satellites move so fast that the only reason for the dish to move is during setup, find the clearest part of the sky. When they place them on Airplanes I am sure they will be stationary, probably the same for the cars when the dishes get small enough.

It moves as it tracks the satellite across the sky and then there is a 20 to 30 second delay when it has to change satellites as it moves to the new one. Yes the satellites are traveling fast but they have a lot of distance to cover horizon to horizon. I can look at the dish out of my window and based on the position knew if I was about to have an outage. I also made the mistake of trying to relocate the dish without disconnecting it first as I was walking it started to move around trying to maintain tracking. The satellites are not in the same area of the sky so it isn't like geostationary orbits that I need to point towards the equator for so if it can't just point straight up and be good it will have to move to track and maintain signal. Now when they have 12,000 satellites up there they might be able to get away with it just pointing straight up. They could design an antenna that is all electronically steerable but it will be larger and more expensive.

For aircraft they will likely use better antenna as cost is less of an issue or multiple antennas. Then again they may just mount it behind some RF transparent panel and let it move to track.

I think they will have issues with it for cars especially in cities with tall buildings and other overhead obstructions. It will be great for outside of cities though. I see it being an option on the semi as they can mount it like the current satellite system used on trucks with a little dome behind the sleeper although the Starlink unit is a bit larger if I remember correctly.