The automotive applications for 5G technology have rapidly risen in recent years. This rising trajectory can be credited to the advancements in the internet of things or IoT innovations, the deployment of high-speed networks, and the introduction of cellular vehicle-to-everything or CV2X technologies.

There are several critical reasons many invest heavily in developing these technologies and why people may see 5G network electric vehicles soon. The results may surprise you if you look at the research regarding vehicular traffic and highway accidents.

What the Numbers Say

How frequently do vehicle-related issues such as steering failures, brake failures, or flat ties cause highway and traffic accidents? The United States Department of Transportation, or U.S. DOT, researched this persistent problem extensively.

The results of this study indicated that an alarming 94% of all vehicular crashes result from human error. Conversely, the data also revealed that only a minuscule 2% of these traffic and highway accidents occur due to mechanical failure.

If you break down that information into specific details, you will find that one in four deaths resulted from speeding. As startling as these statistics are, the numbers indicate that a quarter of most traffic accidents and all vehicular fatalities were completely preventable.

That is why many believe connected vehicles could be a serious game changer for road safety.

Preventable accidents have been and always will be a recurring problem in the United States, if not the world as a whole. Fortunately, unlike many generations before, the next generation can now mitigate, if not fix, the problem altogether thanks to advancements in-vehicle technologies. In the future, car accident lawyers will need a marketing team to expand their reach, as personal injuries from vehicular accidents will dwindle down to nothing.

One of the most prominent of these automotive solutions is developing and manufacturing self-driving or autonomous-driving cars. By deploying 5G networks and other new technologies, the promise of manufacturing these autonomous vehicles is quickly becoming a reality.

This article will give you a brief look into how cities incorporate autonomous driving and connected vehicle technology. It will also cover the technology for smart cities and what you might see when these technologies rollout into the transportation system. That includes the future of IoT, 5G capabilities, and automotive applications.

Autonomous Vehicles or Connected Vehicles: What is The Difference?

Before delving into the exciting advancements of 5G technology, it is crucial to distinguish between an autonomous and a connected vehicle.

Connected vehicles are automobiles capable of connecting with a user's smartphone or receiving information from outside sources. While that sounds like something that would exist in the future, connected vehicles are already common today.

A great example is a GPS network that connects to the car's navigation system. In traffic or other types of obstructions on the road, navigation systems can provide alternate routes to avoid these obstructions.

The next phase for connected vehicles is the incorporation of V2X, where X can represent either a traffic management system on an intersection or a pedestrian. Vehicle-to-everything or V2Xis what many consider the ultimate leap forward in connected vehicle technology, which will support automated braking to prevent road accidents.

Another excellent example of a connected vehicle is OnStar, which is a service that offers subscription-based navigation, in-vehicle security, and emergency services, to name a few. A driver can communicate with a help center to dispatch emergency services or request a tow truck

 in an emergency. 

Regarding smartphone connection, most automakers include technologies that allow drivers to sync their smartphones to their vehicles. That is so drivers can play music, enable voice recognition, and utilize applications.

Despite GPS and OnStar being beneficial services, they still rely heavily on decades-old, if not outright, obsolete technologies. Even syncing a smartphone to the car dashboard is neither exciting nor groundbreaking in the grand scheme.

The next generation of connected vehicles promises to put the previous generation to shame with its new capabilities and improvements. 5G cars can connect to 5G network providers, supplying high-speed, low-latency communication and enabling communication with other cars.

With better 5G vehicle-to-vehicle communications, drivers can avoid typical accidents around areas with stop signs, traffic lights, or intersections. A great example of the practical applications of 5G connected cars is when two vehicles are about to intersect at a stop sign.  

Because the two 5G connected cards can communicate, they can agree in advance which of them will go first. This simple solution is a massive game changer considering how the earlier generation of self-driving cars has struggled with stop signs. 

Based on the examples, you can tell that connected vehicles are not necessarily autonomous vehicles. What differentiates the two is that connected vehicle technology is a reference to V2X advances, while an autonomous vehicle is a next phase.

Autonomous vehicles will ultimately depend on 5G technology integrations in the automotive systems to enable the cars to drive. Some of the first models of self-driving vehicles were not connected vehicles.

Instead, these vehicles relied on more crude solutions such as planned routes and radar to navigate through the roads. However, this upcoming generation of self-driving cars will be connected since there are many benefits for a reasonably small cost.

Enabling the Future of Autonomous Vehicles Using Today's Technology

Entirely autonomous vehicles entail that high-speed 5G is necessary for thousands of cars to connect simultaneously within a city center. While 4G is leaps and bounds ahead of 3G and is also ideal for most IoT apps today, ultimately, autonomous vehicles require lower latency and high bandwidth.

Because of that, most cities in the United States, such as New York and Los Angeles, are expanding their coverage for 5G. Essentially, 5G cars will have the means to connect to these new networks and take advantage of the infrastructure. That applies even to some networks not necessarily installed to benefit autonomous vehicles.

Intelligent Speed Assist, or ISA, is highly likely to play an essential role in developing autonomous vehicles. With Intelligent Speed Assist, GPS systems can determine the speed of a car and cross-reference it to a map with established speed limits.

In cases when the car exceeds the speed limit, the Intelligent Speed Assist system will warn the driver or even slow the vehicle down, depending on how the ISA was set up. For autonomous cars, it is integral to incorporate a map with speed limits.

While AI and machine learning will allow self-driving cars to read speed limit signs, those signs might not be sufficiently prevalent to keep the vehicle educated.

While machine learning and AI will enable self-driving cars to read speed limit signs, the signs may not be prevalent enough to keep the vehicle informed. That is because some small towns contain fewer signs compared to the cities, and other places may have signs that are either missing or disfigured. 

Another piece of technology that cars like BMW use today are lane assist. Lane assist utilizes GPS information, radar, and cameras to determine the location of a vehicle on the road and maintain its position in the proper lane. Developers will continue to refine lane assist technology until it leads to autonomous cars that stay in their lanes in any driving condition and speed.

While the pieces are slowly falling into place for 5G integrations into automotive applications, manufacturers are currently deploying connected vehicle technology.

How 5G Will Pave the Way for Autonomous Driving

As mentioned, one of the critical features of 5G is that it will enable communication from vehicle to vehicle. That will open up the possibilities for sharing information from the current destination and speed to previous road safety conditions. A car heading in one direction will automatically share that information with another vehicle going in the opposite direction.

If all goes well, cars can start coordinating seamlessly at stop signs, traffic lights, and intersections without incident. Drivers who run red lights in an intersection will become a virtually non-existent thing of the past.

Fast forward several decades from now, developers predict that stop signs and traffic lights may no longer be necessary for maintaining road safety. They also optimistically project the reduction or complete elimination of traffic jams due to self-driving cars having the ability to drive in closer proximity to one another. Additionally, autonomous vehicles do not slow down to rubberneck.

Developers also state that 5G cars will be able to pick up signals sent by 5G cellular network smartphones pedestrians carry on their person. This innovation is another game changer because autonomous vehicles can avoid hitting pedestrians at intersections or crosswalks.

Even in cases where a car's cameras and radar fails to detect a person, it will be able to detect the 5G signals via the mobile network coming from their smartphone. 5G-enabled self-driving cars will also be able to connect to city smart grid networks for accessing services, finding available parking, and other time-saving benefits.

A great example is the case of construction vehicles, ambulances, and school buses that will have the ability to broadcast their locations. That means autonomous vehicles can redirect the routes they take to get to their destination according to those factors.

Think of it as Waze instead of relying on manual reports from other users. These autonomous cars rely on 5G capabilities and data sharing for more real-time reports.

When 5G Vehicles Are Coming

As mentioned multiple times in this article, the critical part of facilitating autonomous driving is incorporating 5G connectivity. One of the only upsides to the Covid-19 pandemic is that most individuals had to adapt to a work-from-home setup. That is an upside because it created a massive demand for a bandwidth increase to meet connection requirements.

Verizon is an excellent example, as it has increased bandwidth usage that reached 75%, which is a massive demand spike. Many agree that this enormous demand for more bandwidth gave the necessary push that sped up the building and development of 5G networks and infrastructure.

When talking about actual numbers, an article by Business Insider projects that by 2025, an estimated 77 million connected cars will be manufactured. They also stated that the projections for semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles could increase to 14 million manufactured by 2025.

While those numbers may not be impressive, it is essential to remember that they could take off significantly when the technology becomes inexpensive and reliable. The market growth from 1 to 14 million could take about the same time as it would for it to grow from 14 million to 100 million. 

General Motors is already working hard in the development of autonomous car technology. According to a 2016 report, the company spent over $1 billion to acquire Cruise Automation, an autonomous car startup. Since the acquisition, Cruise Automation has raised more capital, and General Motors seems to have fully committed to turning the self-driving car dream into a reality.

However, transitioning to self-driving vehicles will not happen overnight, as many predict it will be a gradual process that will take months of trial and error. Fortunately, drivers already have other technologies like lane assist designed to take over car controls in specific situations so it can prevent accidents and save lives.

As time passes, these technologies will receive software updates and upgrades, new technologies will be introduced, and cars will gradually drive more than the driver. Developers optimistically theorize there will eventually be cars manufactured without a steering wheel.

It is critical to note that there may be specified restrictions in which these revolutionary vehicles can only run during clear days or in certain cities. However, the production of cars without steering wheels is a clear indication that the world is getting closer to seeing a fully autonomous future for the automotive industry.

When Scifi Concepts Become Real Technologies

If you thought the 5G broadband cellular network was only for use cases concerning mobile phone LTE and standard telecom wi-fi, you are sadly mistaken. With 5G slowly becoming the new standard for software-defined autonomous vehicles, its high bandwidth and low latency could save thousands of lives from vehicular accidents.

The digital transformation to telematic cars is slowly approaching, and you would be wise to be one of its subscribers. That is because it not only means you optimize your daily commute but also contributes to a safer on-the-road ecosystem.