Semi-autonomous systems will continue to dominate the market for self-driving cars over the next decade, ABI Research said in a Thursday report. It forecasts that vehicles with Level 2 and 3 systems on the Society of Automotive Engineers six-step scale of driving autonomy will account for 86 percent of the autonomous vehicles shipping in 2026. But “higher levels of autonomy will gain traction quickly,” accounting for just under a third of autonomous vehicles shipping in 2030, it said. Self-driving cars “will transform the way mobility is consumed, bringing environmental, societal and convenience advantages to the end user,” ABI said. “It also represents a fundamental disruption to the business model that dominated the automotive market for almost one century. OEMs have much to gain in pursuing semi-autonomous operation, maintaining the importance of the driving experience.” Recent announcements from BMW, Ford, Tesla and others “signal that OEMs are not only looking to introduce higher levels of autonomy by 2021, but are also actively planning to transition from vehicle sellers to mobility providers.” ABI sees the “quasi-universal” 2021 target date for the rollout of Level 4 and 5 systems representing “a significant acceleration in the autonomous technology market,” it said.

Qualcomm updated the Quick Charge technology in the upcoming Snapdragon 835 processor due to ship in commercial devices in first-half 2017, it announced Thursday. Quick Charge 4 delivers faster charge times and higher efficiency than previous versions, offering five hours of smartphone use after five minutes of charging, said the company. Quick Charge 4 integrates USB Type-C and USB-PD support along with the Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage power-management algorithm that automatically determines and selects the optimal power transfer level for a given thermal condition, said the company. More than 100 Quick Charge compatible mobile devices are available.

Chinese companies Huawei, Oppo and BBK Communication accounted for 21 percent of smartphones sold to users in Q3 and were the only companies in the top five to expand sales, Gartner reported Thursday. Worldwide smartphone sales rose 5.4 percent to 373 million units. Apple’s share slipped 1.5 percentage points to 11.5 percent, while market leader Samsung's share declined 4.4 points amid Galaxy Note7 problems (see 1611070038). "The decision to withdraw the Galaxy Note7 was correct, but the damage to Samsung's brand will make it harder for the company to increase its smartphone sales in the short term," analyst Anshul Gupta said. Android continued to capture share from iOS, owning nearly 88 percent of the market, Gartner said. The pulling of the Note7 will likely “only slightly” benefit the iPhone 7 Plus,” as users are likely to remain loyal to Samsung or “at least with Android,” analyst Roberta Cozza said.

The Rural Wireless Association said it still has questions about a waiver request that would facilitate the sale of three 700 MHz licenses in Montana from Bresnan to T-Mobile (see 1611080030). The companies offer a declaration that Bresnan “has taken numerous steps toward developing its plan to deploy this spectrum,” RWA said. “However, all information that would shed any light on what these steps were has been redacted from the public version of the Reply Comments, so there is no way to properly evaluate the merits of Petitioners’ contention." Because the companies say "without grant of a waiver, Bresnan building out in even a small portion of its license area ‘is not likely to occur,’ there is ample basis to question how substantial the ‘steps’ allegedly taken by Bresnan to date have been,” RWA said in a filing in docket 16-319.

Flat Wireless petitioned the FCC to designate it as an eligible telecom carrier for offering broadband to qualified households in New Mexico and Arizona. Flat noted that it has offered wireless service for more than eight years in Arizona, California, New Mexico and, until recently, Colorado.

More than 116 million Americans plan to purchase tech products or accessories during Black Friday Week, said a post-election CTA survey. Of the 180 million U.S. adults expecting to shop between Monday and Cyber Monday, 114 million plan to shop online and 70 percent will use mobile devices, said CTA. Most, 54 percent, of Black Friday Week shoppers plan to visit a physical store, said CTA. Tech shoppers next week will be targeting TVs, laptops, smartphones, videogame consoles, tablets, headphones, accessories, DVD or Blu-ray players, digital camera and wearables, said CTA. On average, half of the annual unit volume of emerging categories sells in Q4, said CTA Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac. That’s a positive indicator for drones with expected sales of 1.2 million in the 2016 holidays; virtual reality gear, with projected 700,000 headset sales; and 4K TVs, with an estimated 4.5 million shipments, said DuBravac.

The administration of President-elect Donald Trump will have “a chance to harness the specific opportunities the IoT offers to bring significant consumer, business and societal benefits to the nation and solidify our global leadership in technology innovation and deployment,” CTA said Wednesday in a 24-page white paper. Policymakers should “aggressively accelerate” the measures government can take “to promote IoT innovation, growth and deployment such as making more spectrum available and harmonizing federal agency interaction,” said the white paper, “Internet of Things: A Framework for the Next Administration.” It called on policymakers to “refrain from broad regulatory action that would derail or delay new IoT applications.” A government emphasis on “self-regulatory and other consensus-driven industry efforts” would allow IoT stakeholders “to address discrete, specialized issues that may arise in a practical and flexible manner and without the same risks to competition and innovation,” it said. This policy approach, the white paper said, “should be the default institutional mechanism for the IoT.” For the IoT to “flourish,” government “must partner with industry to eliminate barriers to innovation,” it said. Policymakers also should “exercise regulatory humility by considering any regulatory actions in light of greater economic impacts and embrace industry self-regulatory efforts that can address concerns as they arise without inhibiting innovation,” it said.

The FCC established a pleading cycle on AT&T’s proposed lease of a single 700 MHz C-block license in Alaska from co-op Arctic Slope Telephone. AT&T already is using the spectrum under a short-term spectrum manager leasing arrangement, a public notice said. “Applicants maintain that the proposed leasing arrangement would continue to provide AT&T with additional spectrum that enables it to have increased system capacity to enhance existing services, better accommodate its overall growth, and facilitate the provision of additional products and services in parts of" a single cellular market area, the PN said. “Applicants assert that, as a result of this proposed lease, AT&T would hold 24 megahertz of contiguous, paired Lower 700 MHz spectrum in this CMA, allowing for a 10×10 megahertz LTE deployment.” Petitions to deny are due Dec. 7, oppositions Dec. 14, replies Dec. 21 in docket 16-370. The FCC also sent AT&T a letter asking a series of follow-up questions on the deal.

The FCC said the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should reject Council Tree arguments that the agency wrongly restricted it as a designated entity to a $150 million bidding credit in the incentive auction, in violation of the Communications Act. “On the basis of its overbroad and mistaken reading of the statute, Council Tree adopted a strategy to acquire significant spectrum in the Broadcast Incentive Auction by reliance on a presumed level of bidding credits that exceeds the cap that the FCC established,” the FCC said in a pleading with the court. “But nothing in the Communications Act mandates any particular level of bidding credits or requires the FCC to ensure that Council Tree successfully implements its bidding strategy, however ambitious that may be.” The $150 million bidding credit cap “surely gives small businesses ‘the opportunity to participate’ in that auction, and thus is consistent with the statute,” the FCC said. “It is also a reasonable decision, reasonably explained.” Council Tree didn't comment Wednesday.

The world will see 550 million 5G subscriptions in 2022, Ericsson reported Tuesday. North America “will lead the way” with a quarter of mobile subscriptions for 5G service, Ericsson said. Asia Pacific “will be the second fastest growing region for 5G subscriptions, with 10 percent of all subscriptions being 5G in 2022,” the report said. The company forecasts that 19 billion connected devices will be in use that year, with 18 billion of those tied to the IoT. "Almost 90 percent of smartphone subscriptions are on 3G and 4G networks today and standardized 5G networks are expected to be available in 2020,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, chief strategy and technology officer. “We are already seeing a great interest among operators in launching pre-standard 5G networks. " He said 5G will accelerate the digital transformation in many industries, enabling new use cases in areas such as IoT, automation, transport and big data. Ericsson also announced it partnered with SK Telecom and BMW on an advanced 5G outdoor mobility trial, including the first multi-vehicular 5G trials. Tests were conducted at a test track in South Korea, Ericsson said in a news release. They showed that 5G supports vehicle-to-vehicle connections that require "low latency and consistent high bi-directional throughput,” Ericsson said. “Today's demonstration of 5G-based connected car technologies marks the very first step towards achieving fully autonomous driving in the upcoming era of 5G,” said SK Telecom Chief Technology Officer Alex Jinsung Choi.