Context: Earlier this year, pool operator Avanci launched its Wi-Fi 6 Vehicles program, aimed at licensing manufacturers of vehicles that implement patents essential to the Wi-Fi 6 connectivity standard. Mercedes-Benz was the first and, to date, the sole publicly announced licensee to the program (March 4, 2026 ip fray article).
What’s new:
- General Motors (GM) and Ford have just signed up as Wi-Fi 6 Vehicles licensees, along with three other yet-to-be-revealed automotive companies.
- Sol IP has joined the wider Avanci Wi-Fi platform—of which Wi-Fi 6 Vehicles is a part—as its newest licensor.
Direct impact:
- Ford and GM are big-name signings on the licensee side, at least in the North American context.
- Sol IP manages a portfolio of standard-essential patents (SEPs) including many originating from South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI); its accession could significantly expand the number of Wi-Fi SEPs available through an Avanci pool license.
Wider ramifications: Sol IP already participates in Avanci’s 4G and 5G Vehicle programs as a licensor, and is an active enforcer of its cellular SEPs. It filed multiple complaints against BYD in Germany and at the UPC, around the same time that the Chinese automaker was sued by Sol IP’s fellow Avanci Vehicle licensor IP Bridge (May 30, 2025 ip fray article). Those cases were later settled, after BYD presumably took an Avanci pool license (September 25, 2025 ip fray article). More recently, Sol IP has sued tractor manufacturer AGCO in Germany’s Munich I Regional Court for alleged 4G SEP infringement (September 9, 2026 ip fray article).
On the licensor side, Sol IP joins 11 previously-known companies that have contributed SEPs to the Avanci Wi-Fi 6 Vehicles program: Atlas Global, BlackBerry, Canon, ISG, KPN, Malikie Innovations, Meizu, NEC, NTT, Oppo, and Sharp (April 8, 2026 ip fray article).
Like Sol IP, most of those patent holders are also licensors to Avanci’s longer-established Vehicle 4G and 5G programs, which offer pool licenses covering cellular SEPs for implementation in the automotive industry.
Speaking to ip fray, Qudus Olaniran, Senior Vice President at Avanci and Head of Avanci Wi-Fi, said that the Wi-Fi 6 Vehicles program “benefits from the deep trust built over the years starting with Avanci 4G”.
“We’re very encouraged by the progress we’re making and this early participation,” he added.
Mr. Olaniran is counting on that same sense of confidence and reliability among participants in Avanci’s existing programs to help get new initiatives off the ground too.
One such future program relates to the next generation of Wi-Fi SEPs.
“We’re offering what the industry needs right now, which is Wi-Fi 6,” he said.
“In the future there will be a need for Wi-Fi 7 as well. We’ve been talking with automakers and patent holders about that.”
Mr. Olaniran added that Avanci is also “excited about the broader opportunities in Wi-Fi in other verticals, looking beyond connected vehicles”.