How Autonomous Car Makers Are Embracing 5G

Key takeaways

5G technology significantly enhances autonomous vehicles through low latency and high throughput capabilities.
Intel highlights 5G's evolution as a cloud-like network, enabling advanced functionalities for connected cars.
Qualcomm has introduced the first 5G dual sim dual active platform tailored for the automotive sector.
The integration of C-V2X and precise positioning supports the development of next-generation vehicles.

Over the last five years, the wireless data network has seen an exponential growth along the meteoric rise in the internet of things. With the advent of 5G, this is especially true with autonomous vehicles. Caroline Chan, vice president of Intel’s 5G infrastructure explains, “5G network is a different evolution than the previous networks and goes beyond the mobile broadband because of its low latency, high throughput and ability to do network slicing that transforms the network to be more of cloud-like nature than a purposely built network.” Last month in February 2019, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc announced the automotive industry’s first 5G dual sim dual active (DSDA) and the latest 4G LTE-Advanced pro-tiered platform portfolio with integrated C-V2X and precise positioning support for next-generation vehicles. The Snapdragon Automotive 4G and 5G Platforms feature not only integrated C-V2X direct communications but also high-precision multi-frequency global navigation satellite system (HP-GNSS) and RF Front-End (RFFE) functionalities to support major operators across key spectrum bands globally.

Embracing 5G In Automobiles

The telecom industry is visualising the automotive industry with the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) concept where the cars will be equipped with numbers of sensors receiving and collecting data over a certain network in a short amount of time. Information like road conditions, weather compatibility, accidents, obstacles, etc. will be picked by the sensors and the data will be sent to the cloud provided from where it will be sent back some decision to the vehicle for a seamless driving experience.

Auto Giants Embracing 5G Technology

Audi With Ericsson

Last year, the prominent automobile manufacturer Audi tied hands with Ericsson by signing a memorandum of understanding for the use of 5G technology during automotive production. In the first phase of the project, both the companies will test a latency-critical application using wirelessly connected production robots that are equipped with a commonly used technique in auto body construction. Earlier in 2017, a trial conducted between NTT DoCoMo, Intel, Ericsson, Denso, and Toyota attained data speeds of 1Gbps/600Mbps for 4K video streaming in a connected vehicle travelling at 30 km per hour which was using Intel’s Go 5G Automotive platform terminal and onboard antenna head for connected car trials.

Ford

Recently at CES 2019, Ford Motor Co announced that it’s outfitting all its US models with C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-To-Everything) technology starting from 2022. The technology will enable the autonomous car to communicate with one another about road hazards, communicate to stop lights to smooth traffic flow, pay the bill automatically while picking up fast food, etc.

Tech Mahindra

In September 2018, Tech Mahindra Ltd. announced the setting up of a centre of excellence in Washinton and Bengaluru which is powered by Intel. The motive behind the CoE is to help Communication Service providers optimise their capital expenditure (CapEx) on 5G migrations as well as roll out and accelerate new revenue-generating services that will lead the transformation journey. In Feb 2019 Tech Mahindra launched its network automation and managed services framework “netOps.ai” to accelerate 5G adoption for communication service providers which will be demonstrated live at Mobile World Congress 2019.

Tata Motors Allianced With BSNL

According to a report by a leading newspaper, Tata Motors and telecom giant BSNL has tied up for a first-of-its-kind machine-to-machine (M2M) communications deal by which the telecom company will supply embedded 5G sim cards in order to transform the automaker’s vehicles into smart cars. BSNL Chairman Anupam Shrivastava said, “We have already partnered with Tata Motors for embedded SIM functionality. Five lakh SIM cards were already provided while another 10 lakh will be supplied in a year’s time.”