Navigator maps updated in real time, streaming music, app links directly from the car. Vehicle connectivity has been a reality for years and 5G plays a fundamental role in the implementation of new technologies. But in the near future there is more. The European Union estimates that by 2030 the automotive and smart mobility will change dramatically: increasing urbanization, digitalization and automation are just some of the key indicators of this trend. By transforming the car as an intelligent entity, equipped with mobile connectivity, used by the people inside and above all capable of supporting communication between different vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructures. From this prediction for the future 5G for Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) was born within the Horizon 2020 Framework Program. For the experimentation of automated and connected mobility, capable of “networking” between users of the same journey and increasing so sensibly the parameters of safety and traffic prediction, among other things.
The most recent experimentation of automated, cooperative and connected mobility solutions is known as the 5G-CARMEN project (5G for Connected and Automated Road Mobility in the European UnioN), also within the Horizon2020 program. The consortium brings together large companies operating in the automotive sector, telephone services and network and terminal equipment suppliers. The first tests were carried out in the Brenner motorway corridor that connects Bologna with Munich and, with an average of 80,000 passengers per day in transit, it represents a fundamental trans-European road artery.
Usage scenarios on the Brenner motorway
But what do the possible innovations consist of? We move from Situation Awareness, that is warnings to the driver on the conditions of the road seat such as the presence of dangers or obstacles, to Green Driving, advice for reducing consumption. The two demonstrations were entrusted to Crf, A22 and Tim. The result? The infrastructural back-end of A22 and the sensors on board one of the vehicles of “FCA – Stellantis – CRF Centro Ricerche Fiat” are able to detect a dangerous condition, such as the presence of heavy rain, and communicate it in advance via the network mobile to a second vehicle, which is entering the risk zone. The second vehicle, informed of the risk, will proceed to reduce its speed in order to cross the area affected by the danger condition in greater safety.
Green Driving, through the BrennerLEC platform (Brenner Low Emission Corridor), will generate suggestions on the speed to be adopted when crossing the motorway section between San Michele All’Adige and Egna, based on the environmental pollution conditions detected by A22. By exploiting the cellular network once again, vehicles will be able to indicate to the driver the need to reduce speed and consequently the environmental impact of the vehicle.
Other projects
More safety, less stress, more entertainment on board, less pollution and waste of time (with truly “smart” traffic lights and parking), fewer trips to the workshop with recall campaigns and remote updates. These are all the promises of 5G applications as a technology enabling the digital transformation of our everyday life in the car and in transport in general.
In addition to the development of all the potential scenarios on the Brenner motorway, Tim has already in the past been in the front row for several projects with 5G at the center of a new way of using the world of cars. Like the experience of the Monza racetrack, in 2019 the first “5G racetrack” in Europe to live an experience even richer in content during competitions. Today, the group joins the Masa project (Modena Automotive Smart Area), the “open-air” laboratory for the experimentation and certification of new technologies in autonomous, assisted driving and mobility, with particular attention to the management of mobility and of traffic. With Alis, a process of digitization of over 1,500 transport, logistics and intermodal companies for intelligent and sustainable mobility was initiated, in order to make the mobility of goods and people smarter. With “Arena del Futuro” Tim is committed to the first worldwide collaborative innovation project for zero-emission mobility of people and goods towards carbon free. The aim is to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of technologies related to powering electric cars, buses and commercial vehicles using non-contact dynamic inductive charging. And for the future, the tender of the Ministry of Economic Development won together with the Metropolitan City of Genoa, the University of Genoa, Ericsson and Himarc for new 5G smart road solutions in the areas of the upper ValPolcevera and Valle Scrivia is expected.
Smart Mobility e Smart City
Another experimentation on intelligent mobility is the one tested at the TIM Innovation Lab in Rome and is based on the use of an autonomously guided shuttle. It is a shuttle, produced by Navya, designed to communicate with Tim platforms and send context information on board (for example hidden obstacles, information on possible interruptions to traffic, construction sites in progress). For the first time in Italy, therefore, the exchange of data between a self-driving shuttle and other subjects moving on the street (for example pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, etc.) is enabled in order to increase the level of safety. in urban contexts with mixed mobility. At night, however, the same vehicle can become, with the use of computer vision, a control system to detect any anomalies or dangers in the area in which it moves, communicating them in real time to the control unit connected to 5G and to the Edge computing. The Tim Autonom Shuttle solution is ready to be launched on the market for the sale or rental of self-driving vehicles that can be used in urban centers, university campuses, hospitals, industrial plants, ports and airports, events and tourist sites, for the mobility of people and the transport of goods.
In Turin the connected car
In the first days of December, the city of Turin hosted a live test of a new technology for the safety of drivers and pedestrians that will allow real-time notification of the dangers of the road through 5G-Edge networks. The experimentation was carried out internationally by the public-private collaboration, organized by the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) and by eight companies that are part of it and that represent the main technology companies from around the world: BT, Capgemini, Cisco, Harman, Intel, Stellantis, Telefonica, TIM, Turin City Lab / City of Turin.