We haven’t maybe heard quite as much as we could have about self-driving cars as they hit American roads.
Autonomous vehicles are still pretty low-profile – but Google has been testing them on California roads for a number of years, and they’re slowly building prominence and emerging on the road, as some designs have been pretty thoroughly vetted and considered by regulators.
Now there’s news that technology based on emerging 5G telecom networking can help to make these cars even safer.
“C-V2X, a communications technology using the same 5G networks coming to our phones, will allow vehicles to communicate wirelessly with each other, with traffic signals and with other roadside gear, improving both functionality and safety,” wrote Stephen Shankland at CNet today.
C-V2X is a vehicle peer-to-peer network that can help to accomplish an additional layer of communications for self-driving cars.
A lot of the augmented technology that has been previously discussed involves sensory outreach from the vehicle cabin itself, for example, fancy lane departure warning systems and other tools to help vehicle sense what’s around them.
The new 5G network would function more like a virtual telephone system where cars let each other know where they are and share sensory information.
In some ways, it’s similar to the new Waze GPS technology where users report what’s in the roadway – except that the C-V2X system would assumedly function in real time.
Shankland gives the example of being able to get data on what’s in front of a moving truck in another lane.
CTO of the 5G Automotive Association Maxime Fleming, quoted in Shankland’s story, talks about C-V2X “adding an additional sense” to self-driving cars.
A planned release in 2020 will reveal more about how this innovation can help cars to negotiate at intersections, another major feature of this enhanced communication technology. Look for more as the autonomous vehicle continues to evolve.
