Sometimes innovators are punished or laughed at, or they’re simply ahead of their time.
I’m not sure that’s the case here but whatever. You’ve still got to hand it to a motorist who apparently attached a Starlink satellite dish to the hood of their car. Starlink, for the unaware, is Space X’s satellite-based internet service provider.
Anyway, here, look at this innovation.
The California Highway Patrol posted on Facebook that the driver claimed the dish only blocked their view “when I make right turns,” which wouldn’t be great. CNBC reported that CHP gave the driver a ticket for the obstruction and that the motorist told an officer they used the dish to work from their car.
“Yes, it is in fact illegal to mount a satellite dish to the hood of your vehicle, obstructing your view under section 26708(a)(2) of the California Vehicle Code,” CHP Antelope Valley wrote on Facebook. “You also may not hang things from your rear view mirror, mount a GPS or cell phone in an unapproved location on your windshield, or display a handicap placard while the vehicle is in motion under this section. It’s about safety folks.”
As The Verge noted, Elon Musk, head of Space X, once said in a 2020 earnings call that he supposed “technically, you could buy [a Starlink antennae] and just stick it on the car.” He noted on Twitter, however, that it definitely wasn’t intended for cars.
Musk said this week that Starlink has more than 1,500 satellites in orbit and more than 69,000 users. He has said the goal is to bring more affordable internet to places with lower populations.
“It’s really meant for sparsely populated areas,” Musk said during an interview at Mobile World Congress.
Got it: rural areas and not the hood of a car.
