The demo, carried out during MWC Shanghai, used vehicles provided by Chinese manufacturer SAIC
China Mobile, together with Huawei and Chinese state-owned automotive manufacturing company SAIC, have jointly demonstrated the application of intelligent and connected vehicles using a low-latency network enabled by “5G Era LTE” and the cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology.
The demo involved a human operator who remotely controlled a remote fleet vehicle via a driving control console located at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2018 exhibition hall.
In the test, the driver was located more than 30 kilometers away from the vehicle. Several high-definition video cameras installed in the vehicle sent multiple real-time HD video feeds to the driver, providing him with a 240-degree view of the vehicle’s surroundings over a high-bandwidth network based on likely 5G technologies.
Control signals for the steering wheel, gas pedal, and brakes were also transmitted over the 5G network, which provided the ultra-low latency needed to support instant response to different roadside conditions, the companies said. From his remote position, the driver was able to maintain full control over the vehicle at all times.
Huawei said that control accuracy was accomplished with the help of low-latency technology that reduces the end-to-end latency to below 20 ms, and HD video backhaul technology.
The intelligent and connected vehicles used in this demonstration were independently developed by SAIC. The demonstration was also based on China Mobile’s wireless network, which is equipped with low-latency and HD video backhaul solutions offered by Huawei. China Mobile is also the provider of the E2E remote driving system that features edge computing technology.
Huawei highlighted that the low-latency solution adopts air-interface scheduling acceleration and several additional technologies such as aggregation and 4×4 multiple-input multiple-output. The vendor said these technologies help to realize HD video backhaul that in turn enables the remote driving commander to learn road conditions in real time.
C-V2X implements a wide range of connection services for vehicles, including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), V2I, vehicle-to-network (V2N), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) services.
“Digital transformation is on the fast track and is quickly advancing across the globe, with the intelligent and connected vehicle industry being of particular interest within the ICT industry,” Huawei said in a statement. “Intelligent and connected vehicles have a positive effect on a diverse range of potential application scenarios, such as remote bus driving and truck transportation. In addition, these innovations can improve operation efficiency and ensure the safety of personnel in harsh environments”.
Last year, the three companies have completed a demonstration of what it claimed to be the world’s first 5G remote driving technology with a consumer car.
The companies said that the demonstration verified the high-bandwidth, low-latency potential in C-band frequencies, laying a foundation for future development of connected smart vehicles.
Chinese vendor Huawei provided the 5G wireless solution that connected SAIC Motor’s smart concept car, the iGS. China Mobile provided the connectivity required for the demo.
