No doubt the immense technological progress we’ve witnessed in the last few decades has inspired wonder in us all, exciting our minds to reimagine the limits of possibilities. These technologies, powered by cellular networks, are empowering innovation and economic growth across every major industry, most notably in the transportation and automotive space.
With smart mobility being an elemental part of economic development, there are several large, international research and development (R&D) efforts to assess and study the implications 5G and emerging technologies hold for the transportation sector. One such notable initiative we have been thrilled to be a part of is the European Union’s (EU) 5G-Mobix project which is in the scope of the Horizon 2020 project that is aimed at developing and evaluating automated vehicle functionalities for CAM (Connected and Autonomous Mobility) applications in cross-border.
An important step towards future technologies with 5G Mobix
With the use of Ericsson’s state-of-the-art cellular technologies, Turkcell’s 5G infrastructure and advanced cloud integration capabilities and the capabilities of other stakeholders, we led a successful cross-border automated vehicle trial under the 5G-Mobix project. Evolving for three years, this project has been the fruit of a long period of teamwork between Turkcell and Ericsson producing great use cases.
By developing autonomous vehicle functions that incorporated AI and leveraged 5G’s low latency and high bandwidth capabilities, we were able to successfully complete the project, which enables safer autonomous driving with faster reaction time to various cross-border corridor (CBC) scenarios. Doing so also helped us achieve a range of end user benefits of autonomous driving such as greater road safety, decreased traffic congestion, and an improved environmental footprint.
The 5G-Mobix trial demonstrated 5G’s ability to alleviate heavy commercial traffic across border regions by enabling smarter platooning, automated truck routing, and assisted border crossing solutions. Moreover, it also shed light on 5G’s potential to increase visibility and control over transportation systems, providing various advantages including significant fuel savings by shortening following distance between vehicles.
Increased efficiency for transportation industry with digital roads
The transportation and automotive industries are vital sectors of our global economy. By enhancing efficiencies in the mobility of people, goods, and services, innovation in transportation technologies have a profound impact on economic development. Today, cellular networks and emerging technologies are enhancing the automotive value chain, from manufacturing all the way to legislation. They are also constantly driving new capabilities in these industries such as autonomous driving.
In the last few years, next-generation wireless networks like 5G have facilitated significant advances in information transmission and processing, enabling smart transportation, and opening the industry to a range of new capabilities. 5G has placed the transportation industry on the road towards sector-wide innovation and improvement - from public transportation to private logistic fleets.
The practical use cases of 5G in the transportation industry are almost limitless. Allowing real-time diagnostics of data, 5G has enabled data-driven dynamic rerouting of vehicles, remarkably enhancing route and fuel efficiencies. It has also significantly increased operational efficiencies in fleet vehicles like trucks by enabling embedded smart sensors to monitor and transmit real-time information such as speed, fuel usage, vehicle wear, and component failure. Moreover, as also proven by 5G Mobix project, by enabling vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, 5G is playing a significant role in making roads safer and more environmentally friendly.
Connected and automated mobility (CAM) enhancing with 5G
Amongst its various applications, the most fundamental and transformative use case 5G holds for the transportation and automotive sectors is the development of Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM). With the network's low latency and high-capacity capabilities, the rollout of 5G brought drastic advances to automated vehicle technology, enabling intelligent functionalities such as cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, smart lane-keeping, and self-parking. Although large-scale complete automated vehicles may seem quite futuristic and years away, 5G and emerging technologies such as AI and IoT are steadily making them a closer reality and are solid steps towards the science-fiction future.
Isil Yalcin, Vice President, and Head of Ericsson Türkiye:
"Automated and connected mobility is the next big revolution"
"Automated and connected mobility is the next big revolution in the automobile industry since the invention of motorized vehicles. Ericsson’s Connected Cars 2021 report noted the connected car market to reach $166 billion by 2025, presenting significant opportunities for communication service providers (CSPs) to expand capabilities and provide value through network security, data analytics, and edge cloud solutions. The automotive industry stands on the cusp of major transformation, with the significance of cellular technology only set to increase in the coming years. 5G along with emerging technologies will play an integral role in empowering automated mobility. However, the future of automated mobility will depend on close collaboration between a large ecosystem of partners’’
Gediz Sezgin, Chief Technology Officer at Turkcell:
"We re-affirm our commitment to support the transportation industry’’
"With initiatives such as 5G-Mobix encouraging international cooperation between private and government players, we are confident the automotive industry will be successful in its transition to connected and automated driving. We are aware of the importance of cooperation between various stakeholders in the digital transformation. And for making the "more efficient, digital world dream’’ come true, we aim to work together with various business partners across the industry. As Ericsson and Turkcell, we work towards enhancing automated mobility through 5G and we re-affirm our commitment to continue supporting this enormous and rapidly changing industry of the global economy’’.
