Another victory! 5G may become the EU's Internet of Vehicles technology standard

The future of transportation is either clear or becoming more complicated. According to Reuters, 21 EU countries oppose the European Commission's proposal to use Wi-Fi as the communication standard for future vehicle networking technology. This decision opens the door to 5G vehicle networking in Europe, but it will not prevent the use of Wi-Fi.

This approach inevitably makes people a little confused. For many years, the automotive industry has been divided over whether to use Wi-Fi or 5G in car networking technology. General Motors, NXP, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo support Wi-Fi, while BMW, Daimler, Ford, Huawei, Intel, Qualcomm and Samsung support 5G. The debate between the two camps lasted for a long time. The Wi-Fi camp believed that it had been deployed as early as 2016, while 5G did not. However, at present, many countries around the world have successively launched 5G networks. If it is repeatedly delayed, it will only affect the development of the car network.

Whether using Wi-Fi or 5G, the basic concept of "vehicle-to-everything" (also known as V2X) is the same: cars can transmit data to other cars and local infrastructure (roads, traffic lights and control systems) to work together to achieve traffic safety and eventually full autonomy. All communications will be in real time, and it is conceivable that when the vehicle in front or the road changes, the following car will automatically brake or change lanes, which will be a new level of safety for the next generation of vehicles. But the question is which wireless standard should be used to transmit signals between vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure.

As Bloomberg said, given the dominance and performance of 5G, European companies have recently begun to worry about investing in "soon-to-be obsolete" Wi-Fi technology. The Wi-Fi standard for vehicles is 802.11p, which uses a low-bandwidth 5.9GHz radio channel to transmit data at a speed of 3-27Mbps per second within a distance of 150 meters to 1 kilometer, and the transmission vehicle can travel at a maximum speed of 260 kilometers per hour (this is not just for cars, but also for trains.) Due to many practical factors, the actual transmission distance and data bandwidth of Wi-Fi may be at the lower end of these ranges.

In contrast, Cellular V2X (also known as C-V2X) can use the same 5.9GHz radio channels as 802.11p, but also offers low-bandwidth and high-bandwidth data options to transmit more data, while promising better coverage, reliability, and latency. Qualcomm says 5G C-V2X will support lossless data transmission between vehicles at speeds of up to 500 kilometers per hour, even at distances of more than 450 meters, and will benefit from numerous 5G base stations. In contrast, Wi-Fi does not and will not have these base stations without separate investment. In addition, while many future improvements to the 5G C-V2X standard are already planned, Qualcomm believes that there is little room for improvement in 802.11p in the future.

All of these advantages, and many others, such as support from top mobile chip developers, make 5G the clear choice for most carmakers in France, Germany and Italy, as well as Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce in the UK and SAIC Motor in China. In April, EU lawmakers had opted to support only Wi-Fi, noting that it was already available, but EU ministers are expected to meet next Monday to formally allow the two standards to compete.

While this may sound like taking a neutral stance in the battle between Wi-Fi and 5G, 5G has actually already won. Already adopted by numerous mobile operators, 5G will likely quickly gain the infrastructure support it needs across Europe. Towers equipped with 5G radios are already being built in several EU countries, including Italy, Germany, and Spain, and vehicles equipped with C-V2X are likely to follow in the coming years. Commercial 5G vehicle services, such as Waymo's driverless ride-hailing service, are already in development.