The road to autonomous transportation

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has categorized vehicle automation into six levels. Most vehicles fall between the range of Level 0, where there is no automation, and Level 2, where there are a few autonomous driving features but the driver must always be ready to take control.

However, some vehicle manufacturers are now introducing Level 3 vehicles in Europe and the US, which can control certain driving tasks in specific locations and conditions, even as the driver must remain prepared to assume control if the conditions alter.

Today, many Level 2 and Level 3 vehicles come equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) that rely on onboard sensors such as cameras, lidars and radars, which are important stepping stones on the path to full automation.

A growing number of companies are investigating Level 4 and Level 5 vehicles. Such vehicles have no need for human intervention as long as they stay within a certain area, known as the Operational Design Domain (ODD) of the autonomous driving system of the vehicle.

To deploy Level 4 and 5 vehicles at scale, connectivity will be crucial. One reason for this is that many authorities now mandate that autonomous vehicles operating on public roads are always connected to an external supervisor. An autonomous vehicle unable to handle a situation with sufficient confidence could request human intervention to receive guidance for its next course of action. In some jurisdictions the remote supervisor might be liable while the action is executed and therefore needs to closely monitor it through video streams and other means.

Current Level 4 autonomous vehicles are not yet permitted to drive at high speeds, as they are designed for the worst-case situations of their sensor range. Advanced connectivity could address the current limitations by connecting both offboard and onboard sensors so they can complement each other in difficult situations. 5G and future 6G networks will have a crucial role to play as autonomous driving becomes more widely accepted.

Explore the different types of ADAS/autonomous technology used in vehicles below:

Vehicles already produce massive amounts of data and act as connected computers. In the medium term, these trends will only increase with higher reliability and the ability to store and process even greater amounts of data. Autonomous vehicle providers will need to constantly deploy advanced autonomous capabilities across their fleets and maintain their software using over-the-air updates. Large volumes of software will need to be deployed at a reasonable cost in order to keep software-defined vehicles on the road, which will place significant requirements on the network.

On top of keeping the software in shape, humans will still be a crucial component of tomorrow’s transportation ecosystem – from overseeing operations of all active vehicles to the first- and last-mile loading/unloading responsibilities in the case of commercial vehicles.

Scania, a major Swedish manufacturer of heavy commercial vehicles, is a global frontrunner in the shift toward sustainable heavy transport systems. In the future, Scania’s heavy commercial transportation fleet will be able to carry out assignments of all distances while maintaining steady speeds that optimize the vehicle’s energy consumption.

They will also be able to operate during low traffic periods without requiring regular rest periods, leading to increased efficiency and mitigating the shortage of human drivers for commercial vehicles. Today, Scania is already testing autonomous technology to transport commercial goods in regular traffic conditions over 300 km between logistics hubs in Sweden.

Commuters want services that enhance safety and reduce stress levels, as well as simply being able to commute seamlessly from A to B. According to the Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab study, “Augmenting the daily commute”, 3 in 5 respondents were highly interested in alerts relating to the detection of a distracted driver.

According to the study, commuters also say that ADAS features help reduce stress during and after their journeys thanks to the additional level of protection they felt from these safety features. The majority of respondents also showed high interest in information regarding hazards beyond their horizon. This information is relevant for all commuters who benefit from safer roads, from drivers and passengers to pedestrians.

To meet the demands of autonomous vehicles, the transport and logistics ecosystem will need adaptable policies and legislative processes that can keep pace with technological developments. A priority is to address the issue of net neutrality (where providers treat all data on the network equally) and to ensure that net neutrality rules don’t hinder the way services of different degrees of criticality and network performance requirements are deployed.

Ericsson has been working with several global bodies, not just in terms of the Core and Radio Access Network (RAN) within 3GPP, but also toward other industry vertices in groups such as the 5GAA (5G Automotive Association), Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC) and Connected, Cooperative & Automated Mobility (CCAM) Association. In these groups, as well as others, Ericsson is pushing for global service interoperability and cooperating with vehicle OEMs, communications service providers and public road authority representatives to understand where and how to take the automotive sector towards the next mobile generation.

ADAS and autonomous transportation will help make transportation safer and more efficient, as well as help minimize energy usage and reduce traffic congestion.

Looking wider, a rise in autonomous vehicles also has the potential to further encourage vehicle sharing, which would decrease the number of vehicles on the roads or in parking lots. Autonomous public road transportation could potentially enlarge the areas around urban centers where people can live without owning a car, further reducing congestion as well as improving transport for those already living in rural areas.

Electrification, as well as other carbonless technologies, is crucial to reducing transportation emissions. However, the path forward will require all vehicles to be used for as long as possible, which could include adapting vehicles into electric and hybrid vehicles and equipping these with autonomous driving capabilities. Software-defined vehicles will also depend on connectivity for software updates, which will prolong their lifecycles.

Additionally, the transportation infrastructure will need to support electric vehicle uptake with accessible charging stations, as well as ways to manage energy demand. In this context, connectivity will be important for efficient routing and charging optimization, as well as ensuring battery-related software is always up to date.