Avnet: Can 6G networks end urban congestion?

Traffic jams have become the norm in many cities. Especially during holidays and during rush hours, people are always afraid of being stuck in traffic. While they are helpless, the question is how to prevent traffic jams? The emergence of 6G networks in the future is expected to solve this problem.

6G will be available within the next decade. Experts predict that 6G will be 100 times faster than 5G, which is a bigger jump than the jump from 4G to 5G. But the real value of 6G lies in its ultra-low latency. The latency of 5G networks is about 5 milliseconds, while the latency of 6G networks may be as low as 100 microseconds. This means that the data transmission rate of 6G networks is 50 times faster than that of 5G. This ultra-low latency feature is crucial for communication between self-driving cars and helps alleviate traffic congestion.

Although we are constantly building new road infrastructure or expanding existing infrastructure, these efforts are far from keeping up with demand. According to the "National Major Cities Commuting Time Monitoring Report" released by the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, the average one-way time for commuters in major cities across the country is 36 minutes, among which the average commuting time in megacities is 41 minutes. As a megacity, Beijing's average commuting time and average distance are more prominent than those of similar cities. Specifically, Beijing's average commuting distance is 11.1 kilometers and the average commuting time is 47 minutes.

If we could somehow increase speeds to about 60 mph, the average commute time would drop to something more tolerable. Perhaps we could do this by adding lanes to congested roads, but that would only work so far.

Smart transportation makes cities less congested

There are usually three reasons for traffic congestion: first, traffic lights and stop signs at intersections affect traffic flow; second, commuter routes and popular roads are prone to congestion; third, there is the legendary "ghost jam", when some small interference factors such as someone suddenly brakes on the highway, it will produce a snowball effect, causing the vehicles behind to have to stop.

City managers try to mitigate the first problem with roundabouts and synchronized traffic lights. But roundabouts still slow traffic, and even the most synchronized traffic lights can’t ensure that all drivers won’t encounter red lights. While connected navigation apps can provide real-time updates on traffic conditions to help commuters avoid congestion, sometimes there are no alternative routes to choose from. Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) can help prevent situations such as sudden braking, which may alleviate potential phantom traffic jams, but they can’t completely eliminate their impact.

How to break the deadlock?

6G networks and self-driving cars can solve traffic congestion problems. Imagine a future world where every car on city roads is a self-driving car, and vehicles can communicate with each other. This kind of communication requires a large bandwidth, and 6G networks happen to meet this demand.

How can these technologies reduce commute times?

For example, with 6G networks, people can take self-driving cars to work without encountering a red light. If the traffic lights in the city can update their status to the central server, and the car can obtain the status of the traffic lights in real time, then the car can accelerate or decelerate accordingly during driving to ensure that the light is always green when it arrives at the intersection.

If we take it a step further, we may not even need traffic lights. When the roads are full of self-driving cars, and the vehicles can communicate with each other through the 6G network, they can coordinate with each other to pass through the intersection. For example, when a car approaches an intersection, it can adjust its speed as needed and then pass through the traffic. Even without traffic lights, traffic can flow smoothly.

Vehicle Real-time Communication

Self-driving cars will also be able to communicate in real time to determine which roads have good traffic conditions. Even better, self-driving cars will eliminate the need for private cars. When employees arrive at the company, their car can pick up another passenger. This will significantly reduce the number of cars on the road and the number of parking spaces required in cities, which will benefit everyone on many levels.

Generally, since self-driving cars can detect the emergency braking of the vehicle in front and respond appropriately, the occurrence of "ghost traffic jams" can be reduced. With the support of 6G networks, when a car must perform emergency braking, its status and road condition information can also be sent to the vehicles behind, so that they can receive notifications in advance and have enough time to respond, thus avoiding "ghost traffic jams". Under normal circumstances, emergency braking itself is not necessary.

The near real-time inter-vehicle communication provided by 6G networks is key to realizing these solutions. A car traveling at nearly 97 km/h can travel about 27 meters in 1 second, so the vehicle has only a few tenths of a second to take safe action or a collision will occur. In practical applications, 6G will prevent communication delays and increase vehicle reaction time.

Self-driving cars will become the norm

6G networks will be available around 2030, but these traffic solutions will take longer to work. Today’s autonomous vehicle technology can handle phantom traffic jams and optimize routes. But traffic lights cannot be phased out until every car on the road is autonomous. As long as there is a manually driven car that needs to pass through an intersection, the autonomous cars around it will not be able to coordinate their actions safely and efficiently.

But one day in the future, self-driving cars will become the norm. After that, traffic will become safer, and the improvement of urban traffic conditions will bring immeasurable economic and social benefits to mankind.