When asked about the future, many people respond with visions of self-driving (or flying) vehicles. While the idea of getting into the back seat of a fully connected autonomous vehicle and not having to pay any attention to your journey is still far away, the industry is making incredible advancements. Thanks to high-performance cellular connectivity, the future of self-navigating, driverless vehicles is already making its way into the present.
Here are five things you need to know about the future of connected autonomous vehicles and the challenges that need to be addressed.
The robots are rising
Perhaps not the first thing to come to mind when thinking about self-driving vehicles are the ones that are already here and part of our lives. Robots, automated guided vehicles (AGV) and autonomous drones are already in use today, increasing safety in mines, making factory floors run more efficiently and performing precise inspections in hazardous environments - all without human operation.
These levels of automation require the ability to transmit and process massive amounts of data, reliably and securely, especially in dense environments, like manufacturing facilities and warehouses. Sensors, cameras and other devices ensure the vehicle can navigate with precision and without endangering itself, other equipment and most important, people. With even a second of latency resulting in a collision or accident, organizations are realizing that connectivity plays a key role in supporting the operations and the learnings gathered from these types of vehicles today are directly transferable to the development of tomorrow’s autonomous car.
Different levels of automation
In the standard definition, there are five levels of vehicle autonomy (or six if you count level zero for vehicles without any automation). Currently, in cars today, the first three levels: Basic driver assistance, partial and conditional automation, also known as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). These include features like lane departure warning, active cruise control and early versions of “autosteer” where a vehicle can keep itself within lanes. All of these require that a human is actively monitoring the drive and is ready to intervene when required.
The sensors used to collect data and the computing required to detect a potential incident all operate contained within the vehicle and without the need to transmit or receive data. However, to make the leap to higher levels of automation, connectivity becomes a critical factor.
Getting to the next levels
To achieve levels four (high) and five (full) of vehicle autonomy, the vehicle’s driving system must monitor and react to the driving environment on a much higher level of precision. Level four and five automation are not readily available to the public and are still being established, but Statista forecasts the total market for these levels of autonomous vehicles to reach $60 billion by 2030. One thing they have in common is the need to communicate with the cloud and its surroundings at high bandwidth and ultra-low latency.
Widely deployed 5G cellular technology is a foundation to support the extensive performance and coverage requirements of connected autonomous vehicles, where different regulations and rules on global and regional scale will be established by governing bodies to guarantee the safety when autonomous vehicles enter the public roads alongside standard non-autonomous cars.
As an example, Ericsson and Unikie are collaborating to trial automated factory parking (AFP). At the test facility in Turku, Finland, vehicles are remotely controlled via a secure 5G private network, utilizing edge computing and Unikie’s AFP solution. As a result, vehicle logistic management at auto factories can be fully automated. Automakers benefit from identifying the exact location of parked vehicles which reduces search time and labor costs, along with increased safety for onsite staff and minimum vehicle parking accidents. Also, with precision parking, the space can be optimized by up to 20%.
Why seamless connectivity becomes critical
Simply put, an autonomous vehicle has the responsibility to operate safely under any condition and if it cannot, it will have to stop and either wait for the condition to change or be operated remotely or manually (which can be tricky without a steering wheel or an authorized driver). For autonomous cars to operate safely and efficiently it must be always accessible, meaning, it cannot drive in places without connectivity since it will most likely not be allowed to do so from a regulatory perspective but also for convenience and personal safety aspects. A fleet operator must always have total control of the vehicle situation to monitor and adjust the vehicle/fleet behavior, remotely steer the car in case of unforeseen obstacles, perform controlled emergency stops and simply have a way to contact the passengers of the vehicle. So, an autonomous vehicle will never fully disconnect from the network and widespread 5G coverage where AD’s operate is a general requirement. However, that is much more complex than just adding more 5G coverage. Seamless handoff from one cell to another, without disruption to the performance and services including edge application mobility, is one thing required. To that end, Ericsson partnered with Volvo Cars to investigate a solution.
At the AstaZero test track in Sweden, as part of the EU-funded 5GCroCo project, the two companies tested cross-border handovers. The ability to do this will enable vehicles to travel between regions and countries, while maintaining connectivity and data compliance. The project is part of a major initiative preparing for large-scale connected car trials along a 5G corridor between France, Germany and Luxembourg and will pave the road for companies like Einride to bring their Autonomous Electric Transport solution to market.
Why 5G?
For the short-term, we will stay in a world of semi-autonomous vehicles and drivers will need to remain in the driver’s seat, paying full attention. 5G will be a key enabling technology in making the dream of further automation possible. Early generation cellular networks were intended for consumers’ voice and mobile phone functions. While 4G/LTE is able to accommodate more robust amounts of data, it was developed and deployed for consumers’ mobile broadband use like surfing the web and streaming video to the phone. 5G, on the other hand, was created from the ground up to handle the new requirements from the emerging digital and mobile industry such as connected and autonomous vehicles.
The ultimate goal of the connected car is one that is fully autonomous, but we shall also be aware that the sheer volume of data that these connected autonomous vehicles will generate, process, transmit and receive will be massive. The Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC) initiative founded by members like Toyota and Ericsson are addressing the high-volume data challenges of connected cars.
Moving forward
The industrial applications of automated guided vehicles and robotic drones did teach the industry lessons that are relevant to the quest for self-driving cars and trucks that can safely transport goods and humans on busy city streets. A key realization from those learnings is that high-speed and high-capacity connectivity is paramount for the operation of autonomous vehicles. As a result, we are seeing adoption of private 5G networks in confined areas like factories, warehouses and mines. While these uses may be over a smaller area than cities and highways, the 5G solutions are highly scalable and the teachings largely applicable also on wide area deployments.
It’s only a matter of time before 5G will become more prevalent across cities, roads and countries, making it possible to travel among them - from the backseat of your driverless car.
Learn more
For more information about the future of the connected car, including autonomous vehicles, and the critical role that 5G will play in powering the automotive ecosystem, please read our Connected Cars report.
For more details on 5G connectivity and connected vehicles please see the Ericsson review article on the 5G transportation - build a multiservice network - Ericsson
