In one of my first blog posts, I wrote about the future of traffic. One day, your vehicle will communicate with the other cars around you and the road surface to accurately move traffic through our streets without/with reduced slowdowns and collisions. We may be closer to that reality than you might think. The biggest problem with totally automated traffic patterns and roadways is connectivity. How can you connect these many devices and keep latency low enough for real-time updates to stop your vehicle? Enter 5G technology. Self-driving car companies have started experimenting with 5G as the connectivity medium for self-driving cars to receive updates. This could help bring about the future of automated roadways!
5G will help bring in V2X communications. Instead of just communicating with other cars (V2V) or the roadway (V2I), it will also allow you to communicate with Pedestrians (V2P) and other networks (V2N). Due to the wide availability of signals, this will ensure low latency communication that will allow self-driving vehicles to more effectively navigate roadways safely.
It will also help your vehicle’s sensors. Autonomous vehicles use a variety of sensors, including cameras, LiDAR, radar, and ultrasonic sensors, to perceive their environment. 5G connectivity enhances sensor fusion by enabling vehicles to integrate data from multiple sensors and sources more efficiently. This comprehensive perception capability improves the vehicle’s awareness of its surroundings, reducing the risk of accidents and improving navigation accuracy.
These are just a couple of enhancements that the new network technology brings to the forefront of the possibility of locomotion as we know it. There is also the ability to receive High Definition maps directly to your vehicle in real-time and the safe remote operation of Vehicles on the roadway. So next time you are in the market for a new car, ask the dealer if it has 5G!