Volvo and Ericsson achieve seamless cross-border 5G connectivity for autonomous vehicles

According to foreign media reports, Swedish luxury car manufacturer Volvo Cars and leading information and communication technology (ICT) supplier Ericsson have made a major breakthrough in the field of seamless cross-border 5G connectivity for cars. As partners in the EU-supported 5GCroC (Fifth Generation Cross-Border Control) project, the two companies successfully tested the handover of connected cars between mobile 5G networks in two countries.

The test was conducted at the AstaZero test site in Sweden, which has a total length of 5.7 kilometers and covers rural, urban, highway and multi-lane roads, allowing for testing in different traffic environments, thus enabling the evaluation of advanced safety systems in various traffic situations.

The AstaZero test track proved that seamless 5G connectivity across borders is possible. During the test, the Volvo self-driving car successfully switched between two Ericsson 5G networks and remained connected at all times. The two networks are part of the 5G cross-border corridor connecting Merzig, Germany, Metz, France and Luxembourg.

Ericsson deployed a 5G mobile radio network, and two Volvo test cars received high-definition (HD) route maps. HD maps determine the position of vehicles on the road and provide information about speed limits, road closures or areas under construction. In addition, HD maps need to collect information from as many on-board sensors as possible so that they can be continuously updated and become more reliable. The cars also send real-time updates to the Mobile Edge Cloud, so that the following cars can get relevant updates from the cloud. The HD map, provided by Volvo, allows the car to recognize different scenarios by capturing boundary information of straight roads and curves. As Ericsson said: "Through the Collaborative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) ecosystem, autonomous and connected cars will have the possibility to operate as intelligent clusters rather than as individual individuals."

Speaking about the track testing and its challenges, Mikael Prytz, Director of Area Networks at Ericsson Research, says: “Sharing updated maps with other cars is very sensitive to latency and requires high network performance within and across multiple networks. Testing on the AstaZero track has proven that we can handle this. We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Volvo Cars to expand networked mobility for autonomous and connected cars.”

Ericsson and Volvo Cars began working together in 2012 to create safer, more efficient and more entertaining connected cars. The 5GCroCo project they are currently participating in has a total of 24 partners from the European automotive and mobile communications industries, who will jointly promote CCAM services along cross-border corridors and minimize the uncertainty of real-world 5G cross-border deployment. Foreign media reported that Swedish luxury car manufacturer Volvo Cars and leading information and communication technology (ICT) supplier Ericsson have made a major breakthrough in the field of seamless cross-border 5G connectivity for cars. As partners in the EU-supported 5GCroC (Fifth Generation Cross-Border Control) project, the two companies successfully tested the switching of connected cars between mobile 5G networks in two countries.

The test was conducted at the AstaZero test site in Sweden, which has a total length of 5.7 kilometers and covers rural, urban, highway and multi-lane roads, allowing for testing in different traffic environments, thus enabling the evaluation of advanced safety systems in various traffic situations.

The AstaZero test track proved that seamless 5G connectivity across borders is possible. During the test, the Volvo self-driving car successfully switched between two Ericsson 5G networks and remained connected at all times. The two networks are part of the 5G cross-border corridor connecting Merzig, Germany, Metz, France and Luxembourg.

Ericsson deployed a 5G mobile radio network, and two Volvo test cars received high-definition (HD) route maps. HD maps determine the position of vehicles on the road and provide information about speed limits, road closures or areas under construction. In addition, HD maps need to collect information from as many on-board sensors as possible so that they can be continuously updated and become more reliable. The cars also send real-time updates to the Mobile Edge Cloud, so that the following cars can get relevant updates from the cloud. The HD map, provided by Volvo, allows the car to recognize different scenarios by capturing boundary information of straight roads and curves. As Ericsson said: "Through the Collaborative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) ecosystem, autonomous and connected cars will have the possibility to operate as intelligent clusters rather than as individual individuals."

Speaking about the track testing and its challenges, Mikael Prytz, Director of Area Networks at Ericsson Research, says: “Sharing updated maps with other cars is very sensitive to latency and requires high network performance within and across multiple networks. Testing on the AstaZero track has proven that we can handle this. We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Volvo Cars to expand networked mobility for autonomous and connected cars.”

Ericsson and Volvo Cars began working together in 2012 to create safer, more efficient and more entertaining connected cars. Their current 5GCroCo project involves 24 partners from the European automotive and mobile communications industries, which will jointly promote CCAM services along cross-border corridors and minimize the uncertainty of real-world 5G cross-border deployments.