Vodafone Germany and Bosch partnered on C-V2X trial
Huawei, Vodafone Germany and Bosch have successfully tested the extended usage of cellular vehicle to everything (C-V2X) technology in combination with Bosch’s adaptive cruise control (ACC) driver assistance system.
The partners said they have been performing trials of the new technology for the last 12 months on the A9 freeway in Bavaria, Germany, using a pre-standard 5G network. The involved firms also highlighted that the real-time integration of C-V2X with ACC driver assistance system will deliver more efficient and safer driving.
C-V2X technology makes it possible for a car to communicate with other vehicles and its surroundings using mobile connectivity. C-V2X is a real-time alert system that connects cars and gives them early alerts when another vehicle is changing lanes on the freeway or suddenly brakes. When integrated with ACC, the technology not only warns the driver, but also automatically accelerates or brakes in response.
“The new mobile technology system paves the way for automated driving. Achieving the goal of fully connected traffic will involve teaching vehicles to communicate with each other and exchange data directly,” Huawei said in a statement.
“Direct communication between vehicles provides information about what is happening in parts of an intersection not visible to the driver, over the crest of a hill, or on the freeway beside or behind the driver’s own car. In addition, the technology will increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions. Overall, traffic becomes smoother and more efficient.”
According to Guido Weissbrich, Director Network Performance Management at Vodafone Germany, C-V2X will make driving more relaxing as well as more energy efficient. “Thanks to the foresight provided by C-V2X and ACC, in future vehicles will go with the flow, even in rush hour,” he had previously wrote in a blog post.
Other telcos are accelerating trials of this new technology. Earlier this year, Ericsson, Qualcomm, together with Japanese telco NTT Docomo and other firms including Nissan and Continental have unveiled plans to carry out their first cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) trials in Japan.
The main goal of this initial trial is to validate and demonstrate the benefits of C-V2X using direct communication technology defined by the 3GPP in their Release 14 specifications.
The trial is expected to begin in 2018 and the use cases are designed to focus on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) direct communications, as well as vehicle-to-network (V2N) communications.
Ericsson will use a combination of direct communication and LTE-A network technologies while NTT Docomo will provide LTE-A network and V2N applications to demonstrate the benefits of complementary use of network-based communications for a variety of advanced automotive informational safety use cases. Meanwhile, Continental will utilize the Qualcomm C-V2X reference design, which features the Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X chipset with integrated Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) capability.
