5GAA Releases New 2030 Roadmap for Advanced Driving Use Cases, Connectivity Technologies and Radio Spectrum Needs

Vehicles talking to one another but also to roadside and telecom infrastructure and operators – so-called V2X communication – is just the tip of 5GAA’s vision for ‘advanced 5G-connected driving’. In its latest White Paper, 5GAA offers a comprehensive roadmap to guide all parties involved in this near-term market development, bringing both automotive and telecom sectors together to fulfil what 5GAA sees as a powerful digital ecosystem in this fast-moving field.

The Paper highlights selected end-to-end V2X applications factoring in the necessary technological evolution, industry readiness and spectrum needs. 5GAA has developed ‘advanced driving’ use cases such as Cooperative Manoeuvres and Sensor Sharing in conjunction with both the adoption of Cellular Vehicle-To-Everything (C-V2X) standards and the availability of the required technologies and devices. These provide a tangible account of how advanced driving is taking shape globally.

“Success in this endeavour requires to have all industry stakeholders on-board, including telecoms and automotive. Only then will new business opportunities and necessary investments be secured to fuel this ‘ecosystem’,” said 5GAA’s CTO and spokesperson Maxime Flament upon the White Paper’s launch.

With close to 200 million ‘connected vehicles’ already on the roads worldwide in 2020 and a growing number of vehicles with the ability to exchange traffic and road condition information over cellular networks, the foundations for 5G-connected driving are well established, the Paper points out. Further progress in coming years will pivot around 5G-V2X use cases for more efficient and safe driving. From 2025 onwards, 5GAA anticipates mass rollout of more advanced automated driving and safety use cases supported by vehicle connectivity. Additional automated driving functionalities are anticipated as from 2026.

Between now and 2024, ‘connected’ digital road infrastructure will pave the way for real-time or ‘dynamic’ traffic updates, hazard warnings, and high-definition mapping services. Towards 2026, advanced vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) cooperation will further boost automated driving developments, including sharing sensor data and cooperative manoeuvring.

To fully support this evolution, 5GAA calls on national and regional administrations to make sufficient radio spectrum available for mobile communication networks in targeted low- and mid-bands, and it recommends harmonised use of the 5855-5925 MHz band for communication between road users and roadside infrastructure within the wider international digital traffic ecosystem.

Here, the White Paper acknowledges that some 5G-enabled applications may prove challenging to implement, while others will be easier and offer valuable lessons going forward: “Low-hanging fruit applications addressing OEM fleets, such as automated valet parking and tele-operated driving will open the door to more secure, safe and interoperable vehicle-to-network automotive applications across borders.”

Charting a clear way forward…

All in all, to deliver end-to-end V2X services and unlock the true value of vehicle connectivity, 5GAA considers that the realisation of its roadmap would require:

(1) sufficient spectrum for short-range direct communications at 5.9 GHz

(2) high levels of mobile network coverage along the roads

(3) sufficient service-agnostic mobile network spectrum for mobile network-based communications, in addition to the bands that are currently identified for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) use.

The essence and great promise of 5G is that it makes better use of the radio spectrum, boosts mobile network coverage, security and safety, while delivering environmental benefits for citizens and consumers. To chart a clear way forward, 5GAA calls on all players to work together while implementing the use cases highlighted in the Paper, as well as other measures outlined in 5GAA technical reports and papers.

Download a copy of 5GAA’s new White Paper, ‘A Visionary Roadmap for Advanced Driving, Connectivity Technologies and Radio Spectrum Needs’ here