Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology is an emerging paradigm in automotive communication, enabling vehicles to interact with their surroundings through advanced sensors, cameras and wireless connectivity. By fostering communication between vehicles (V2V), traffic infrastructure (V2I) and pedestrians (V2P), V2X has the potential to significantly enhance road safety and reduce traffic congestion.
Several wireless technologies can be used to enable V2X communication, including radio frequencies, Wi-Fi, LTE and 5G cellular technology. However, 5G stands out as a promising solution due to its unique benefits in terms of latency, data throughput and reliability.
Currently, the automotive landscape comprises an array of sensors, networks and cameras, but they often lack interconnectivity. This can limit the ability of vehicles to share data with one another, particularly across different makes and models. Wireless technologies like LTE and 5G can help link vehicles of different makes and models with people and infrastructure so they can all communicate.
By incorporating 5G in V2X communication, data transmission between these entities can be improved, ultimately leading to increased safety and convenience on the road.
Advantages of incorporating 5G with V2X
5G is expected to be a critical component of future automotive industry applications and services. 5G network architecture can be divided into three elements, user equipment (UE), radio access network (RAN), and core network. The application network communicates with user equipment and is the endpoint for communication with the 5G network architecture. The UE's functionality is facilitated by the core and RAN, while applications can be hosted either in multi-access edge computing (MEC) or the cloud.
Compared to 4G (LTE) networks, 5G networks boast superior efficiency in terms of bandwidth, subcarrier ratio, and spacing between uplink and downlink. Designed to be cloud-native and adhering to 3GPP specifications, 5G networks offer increased flexibility and adaptability for multi-environment execution in the 5G Core.
5G outperforms 4G with 4 to 20 times faster data rates, boasting latency values under 10 ms and high spectrum efficiency. Aside from increased performance, 5G also reduces the energy consumption of transferred data.
Derived from these features and benefits, 5G can enable three use case families.
- Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) provides throughputs exceeding 1GB/s, benefiting V2X use cases by offering increased throughput and lower latency for data exchange. This enhancement leads to greater reliability in communication, as networks must accommodate a higher density of vehicles.
- Massive IoT (MIoT) supports the capacity to connect over a million devices per square kilometer (0.39 square miles).
- Ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) offer latency near 10 ms with 5 nines (99.999%) reliability.
5G also enables network slicing, which allows virtual networks with dedicated resources for specific applications or use cases. This feature ensures that V2X communication can have its own dedicated network slice with guaranteed performance, ensuring that critical safety and traffic management communications are not affected by other network traffic.
Overall, 5G technology brings significant enhancements to V2X communication by providing faster, more reliable, and higher capacity communication.
Enhanced road safety
Road safety can be improved with the integration of 5G technology. Notifications of approaching emergency vehicles, as well as communication between traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, can help reduce accidents and improve traffic flow. Delivery trucks and school buses can inform nearby vehicles when stopping for deliveries or dropping off children, effectively managing lane blockages. Real-time updates on traffic congestion can alert other vehicles to accidents and congestion, enabling them to choose alternative routes.
Cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) is a subset of V2X and plays a crucial role in ensuring safe autonomous driving. Pedestrians can also be notified of potential hazards through this technology.
C-V2X and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) can operate at high speeds, facilitating high-frequency data exchange with low latencies. These connections enable broadcasting of vehicle location, acceleration and speed. With 5G, sidelinking to C-V2X is enhanced, allowing for advanced applications such as platooning, remote driving, advanced driving and extended sensor functionality.
Privacy concerns in V2X
Major organizations, such as Qualcomm and 3GPP, have developed roadmaps for forthcoming 5G V2X services. Security is addressed by 3GPP through measures that ensure confidentiality, resistance to relay attacks, and integrity. However, privacy-preserving vehicular big data sharing and processing will require further investigation.
V2X necessitates continuous access to detailed location information, raising privacy concerns among individuals and corporations. Both car owners and renters/borrowers are concerned that location traces may reveal all activities undertaken by the driver.
V2X can be applied to enhance existing methods for turn assistance, emergency braking and intersection management. Building on concepts from various navigation apps, V2X can suggest speed adjustments and update users with information on route activity, such as construction, accidents and congestion.
Public key certificates can be utilized to sign messages from V2X communications, preventing interference in data exchange. This protocol also pseudonymizes communication.
Public key infrastructure (PKI) involves more stringent management of policies and procedures related to digital security certifications.
Conclusion
Digitizing vehicles is a megatrend in the automotive industry and while V2X is still in its developmental stages, numerous features continue to be researched and refined. Currently, most traffic infrastructure is not compatible with V2X.
As V2X becomes more integrated, traffic systems can adapt traffic light timings to help alleviate congestion. Some new cars already employ forms of V2X technology, which is essential for vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities. When more information is accessible to autonomous driving systems (ADS), they can make safer and better-informed decisions.
5G will enhance connectivity for V2X, paving the way for the next era of connected transportation.
About the author
Jody Dascalu is a freelance writer in the technology and engineering niche and works as a business analyst in the manufacturing industry. She studied in Canada and earned a Bachelor of Engineering. As an avid reader, she enjoys researching upcoming technologies and is an expert on a variety of topics.
