What impact will the full implementation of 5G technology have on the automotive industry?

The full implementation of 5G technology can bring new opportunities and development to autonomous driving technology and even the automotive industry.

According to statistics, about 1.2 million people die in traffic accidents every year, and more than 90% of these fatal accidents are caused by human error, which is equivalent to 7 planes with 500 passengers crashing every day. Many companies have started developing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and the final fully automatic driving system very early. For autonomous driving technology, in addition to reducing the travel burden of drivers, it is more important to further improve traffic safety. The full implementation of 5G technology will further promote the development of autonomous driving technology at this time point, help break through the current bottleneck from Level 2 to Level 3, and may trigger changes in the entire automotive industry.

How to define an autonomous driving system

The autonomous driving system is actually an ecosystem that integrates a variety of advanced technologies. This ecosystem includes:

Sensor fusion technologies: including radio detection and ranging (RADAR), light detection and ranging (LIDAR), and optical sensors (cameras)

High-speed information system: Integrates automotive Ethernet networks, combined with powerful signal processing, high-precision (HD) navigation maps and artificial intelligence technology (AI).

Multi-channel communication systems: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-network (V2N), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), vehicle-to-utility (V2U), and ultimately vehicle-to-everything (V2X).

V2X schematic diagram

Sensor fusion technology and artificial intelligence provide underlying technical support for safe and reliable autonomous driving systems. At the same time, wireless communication technology needs to ensure smooth information flow within the entire ecosystem. The entire ecosystem reduces risks by sharing and receiving key information. This includes vehicle, pedestrian, traffic and road condition information.

Various sensors are equivalent to the vehicle's senses, artificial intelligence technology builds the vehicle's brain to make judgments, and wireless communication technology is equivalent to the sensory system that transmits signals.

Multiple communication methods relying on wireless communication technology

Wireless communication technology has three major benefits for autonomous driving:

Build a safer road environment

Provide more efficient transportation routes

Higher in-car convenience

To achieve these benefits, wireless communication technology uses a variety of communication methods, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-network (V2N), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), vehicle-to-grid (V2G), and ultimately vehicle-to-everything (V2X).

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V): Direct communication between vehicles, real-time sharing of vehicle and road conditions, and elimination of busy spots as much as possible to improve visibility. V2V allows two or more vehicles in a convoy to be connected to form a convoy (Platooning). In other words, V2V is the basis for realizing collaborative adaptive cruise control (CACC). Collaborative adaptive cruise control uses V2V technology to share the information of the front vehicle with the rear vehicle, replacing the driver's reaction judgment with the coordination of vehicle information, reducing the vehicle's reaction time, and thus performing appropriate operations faster and more accurately. This reduces the probability of traffic accidents and improves fuel economy to a certain extent. In order to better share information through V2V, wireless communication needs to show very low latency.

CMCC fleet diagram

Vehicle-to-Network (V2N): Vehicles communicate through a wireless network infrastructure consisting of base stations and share real-time traffic information using remote radio heads (RRH). V2N is also used to call SOS services (such as eCall and ERA-GLONASS) and perform remote diagnosis and repair. Unlike V2V, reliability is more important than latency in the V2N process.

Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I): Vehicles can communicate with roadside infrastructure such as traffic lights to share information such as traffic signal change notifications, road signs, street lights, road condition warnings, intersection collision warnings, pedestrian crossing warnings, etc. To make such V2I communication seamless, a considerable number of access points must be deployed on the roadside infrastructure.

Vehicle to Pedestrian (V2P): Vehicles communicate with pedestrians. Warnings are issued for pedestrians crossing the road, etc. In low-visibility weather conditions, pedestrians use mobile communication devices and can use V2P to make vehicles more aware of their presence.

Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G): Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) vehicles communicate with the grid to help electric or hybrid vehicles charge during the most economical off-peak hours, or resell stored electricity to the power company.

V2G schematic diagram

Advantages and limitations of current V2X technology

Two existing wireless communication technologies—dedicated short-range communication technology (DSRC) and 4G cellular LTE—are currently being used for automotive wireless communications. However, the technical limitations of these two communication methods affect the performance of autonomous driving systems in real-world conditions. Neither of these two communication methods can provide Gigabit/second data rates, high-speed mobile support, massive machine communications, and ultra-reliable low latency.

Comparison of Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) and 4G Cellular LTE

The main wireless communication technologies currently used in vehicles are: 802.11p DSRC and LTE-based Cellular V2X. Both can perform V2X communication, but cannot meet the use of all functions. DSRC is based on three standards: the IEEE 802.11p physical layer standard, the U.S. Vehicle Environment (WAVE) protocol 1609 wireless access standard, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) TC-ITS European standard.

The two main advantages of 802.11p DSRC are fast adaptation and low latency (5 milliseconds) for the automotive industry. Based on the mature Wi-Fi 802.11a technology, the IEEE approved the 802.11p specification in 2010. Many automakers who want to deploy V2X (especially V2V and V2I) communications now prefer 802.11p. DSRC is based on ad-hoc communication and does not rely on network infrastructure services. However, 802.11p requires the installation of many new access points (APs) and gateways, increasing the time and cost of full deployment. Because it is based on free Wi-Fi technology, it is difficult to find operators willing to pay the cost of deploying APs without clear licensing and a mature business model. And there is no clear possibility for the technology to continue to develop.

Cellular V2X (C-V2X) is a relatively recent development. The recent 3GPP Release 14 defines some C-V2X specifications based on LTE technology (also known as LTE-V). LTE-V enables wireless communications between vehicles, supporting V2N networks as well as device-to-device (D2D) communications for V2V and V2P. A big advantage of C-V2X is that it uses existing cellular network infrastructure, provides better security, longer communication range, and a technology evolution path from 4G to 5G and beyond. However, LTE-V on current 4G LTE networks does not provide the low latency required for critical V2V communications, as its latency varies between 30ms and 100ms.

How 5G can improve V2X and autonomous driving systems

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) in the field of radio communications lists three main usage scenarios for 5G:

Enhanced mobile gigabit broadband

High-density machine connection network

Low latency and ultra-high reliability (99.999%) communications

The specifications in these scenarios significantly change the user experience of autonomous driving systems by providing the peak data rates, latency, spectral efficiency, and connection density required by autonomous driving systems.

Ultra-low latency of 1 ms at transmission speeds up to 500 km/h (310 mph).

High peak data rates of 20 Gbps at transmission speeds up to 500 km/h (310 mph).

Extremely high density, capable of connecting 1,000,000 connected cars and devices.

From the perspective of vehicles, the application of 5G technology will bring about the following changes:

· 5G's ultra-low latency will play a key role in inter-vehicle communications. For example, in the event of a sudden brake application, the safety features of the autonomous driving system and ADAS immediately issue real-time warnings to the following vehicles to prevent a chain collision. In addition, low-latency 5G can provide better accident prevention functions; especially in non-line of sight (NLOS) situations, since the autonomous driving system relies heavily on cameras, LIDAR or RADAR sensor fusion technology can only detect objects within the line of sight (LOS). Studies have shown that most drivers need 700 milliseconds to react to dangerous situations by taking evasive or preventive measures. For autonomous vehicles based on 5G communication, it only takes 1 millisecond.

5G will provide data to autonomous driving navigation systems at extremely fast speeds. 5G’s fast and reliable data connections will allow complex 3D maps to be downloaded in near real-time. In addition to sensor fusion technology, autonomous vehicles rely heavily on accurate and highly detailed 3D maps for navigation. However, storing huge map datasets at the state or country level on the vehicle itself will be a challenge. A natural solution is to use 5G data connections to download the latest 3D maps of nearby areas. This solves the data storage problem.

5G will soon be used in in-vehicle applications. With a peak data rate of up to 20 Gbps, 5G can enable real-time video and audio entertainment in self-driving cars. It can realize multiple human-computer interaction functions and meet consumers' pursuit of "immersive third space" in vehicles in the future.