Verizon and Cisco team up to advance self-driving car technology

      Cisco and Verizon, a technology and communications services provider, have collaborated in a successful proof-of-concept demonstration in Las Vegas, showing that cellular and mobile edge computing (MEC) technologies can enable autonomous driving solutions without the need for expensive physical roadside units to extend radio signals.

Image credit: Verizon

       This demonstration makes it easier and more efficient to get energy for applications such as autonomous/unmanned last-mile delivery robots and robotaxis. Of course, the above applications usually appear in cities such as Las Vegas where public MEC technology exists. In addition, cities and road operators can create safer roads through C-V2X applications, including pedestrian protection, emergency and delivery vehicle priority, on-ramp protection (for example, when loading trucks need to be automatically guided to merge or brake safely), and other situations involving vehicles approaching signalized intersections.

Proof of Concept
       Autonomous driving features in connected vehicles typically rely on roadside radios to extend vehicle signals for low-latency communications with other vehicles or surrounding connected infrastructure. The Cisco and Verizon tests demonstrated that Verizon's LTE network and public 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength, combined with Cisco Catalyst IR1101 routers in the connectivity infrastructure, can meet the latency thresholds required for autonomous driving applications, replacing the expensive roadside radios previously required.

       By using LTE and edge computing to virtualize roadside units, C-V2X communications are proven to be more streamlined, potentially improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness for municipalities, infrastructure providers and application developers using autonomous vehicles.

       The demonstration results show that connected and autonomous vehicle applications can be deployed today using OEM-deployed LTE networks, mobile edge computing, and in-vehicle interfaces. These capabilities can make roads safer and less congested through today’s connected and autonomous vehicles, scalability for future applications at the edge, and LTE and 5G connectivity.

Connected Transportation - Powered by Cellular Networks
       Improving communications between vehicles and the infrastructure around them is critical to creating safer roads and enabling an autonomous future. Intersections must be securely connected and equipped with compute to allow edge applications to communicate and inform split-second decisions.

       “This test is an important milestone achievement that proves that the future of connectivity for IoT applications can be powered by cellular technology,” said Krishna Iyer, director of systems architecture at Verizon. “We are demonstrating the power of a mobile edge computing platform for connected transportation innovation with a more streamlined architecture. Together with Cisco, we are laying the foundation for a future of connected and autonomous IoT.”
       “The future of autonomous vehicles cannot progress without reliable communication between vehicles and their surroundings,” said Mark Knellinger, chief transportation solutions architect at Cisco. “This demonstration is a significant step forward for road operators, reducing the cost of deploying and operating a dedicated V2X environment.”