Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm have announced the formation of the 5G Automotive Association.
According to the official announcement, the 5G Automotive Association will develop, test and promote communications solutions, support standardisation and accelerate commercial availability and global market penetration.
Its overarching goal is to address society’s connected mobility and road safety needs with applications such as connected automated driving, ubiquitous access to services, and integration into smart cities and intelligent transportation.
The primary activities of the 5G Automotive Association include:
Defining and harmonising use cases, technical requirements and implementation strategies.
Supporting standardisation and regulatory bodies, certification and approval processes.
Addressing vehicle-to-everything technology requirements, such as wireless connectivity; security; privacy; authentication; distributed cloud architectures, and more.
Running joint innovation and development projects leading to integrated solutions, interoperability testing, large scale pilots and trial deployments.
With next generation 5G mobile networks and continued strong LTE (wireless) evolution – which includes Cellular Vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communication, the focus of information and communication technologies has shifted towards the Internet of Things (IoT) and the digitalisation of industries.
As an evolution to today’s networks, next generation mobile networks are expected to handle much more data volume, connect many more devices, significantly reduce latency, and bring new levels of reliability.
For example, 5G can reportedly better support mission-critical communications for safer driving and will further support enhanced vehicle-to-everything communications and connected mobility solutions.
These new solutions are expected to bring new technological and business opportunities for both the automotive and ICT industries, and the members of the association are likely to collaborate closely to realise the full potential together.
Senior vice president – electronics, BMW Group, Dr Christoph Grote explained: “We expect 5G to become the worldwide dominating mobile communications standard of the next decade.
“For the automotive industry, it is essential that 5G fulfils the challenges of the era of digitalisation and autonomous driving. With the 5G Automotive Association we founded a cross-industry forum that allows us to shape the future 5G technology with leading ICT companies.”
President, 2012 Labs – Huawei, Dr Li Yingtao commented: “The creation of this association demonstrates the clear need for a cross-sector-collaboration between the mobile and car industry for joint innovation, and to establish a platform to align on timeline and priorities and solution roadmaps.”
The focus of ICT has shifted towards the Internet of Things (IoT) and the digitalisation of industries.
The association aims to address key technical and regulatory issues, leveraging next generation mobile networks and integrating vehicle platforms with connectivity, networking and computing solutions.
With members hailing from Europe, Asia and the US, the 5G Automotive Association is an international association and welcomes more partners who are engaged in the automotive industry, the ICT industry or the broader eco-system and value chain for vehicle and road transportation systems.
Christoph Voigt is appointed chairperson of the Board and Dino Flore is appointed director general of the Association.
The Association will support and work in close cooperation with national and regional initiatives, such as the European Connected & Automated Driving Pre-Deployment Project.
Source: http://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/global-firms-form-cross-industry-5g-automotive-association/
