When we think of autonomous driving, we tend to imagine driverless vehicles driving on the road, while we watch television, listen to music, eat and even sleep inside. Perhaps, to reach this level of autonomous driving, we will have to wait a few years. However, large cities are already beginning to see how connected cars are able to detect pedestrians, cyclists and other obstacles thanks to 5G technology, so that the car will receive information from the urban environment before it is perceived by the driver himself, and will transmit it with the intention that the user has predictive information that allows them to speed up and improve the decisions they make behind the wheel.
In fact, in Spain, companies like Telefónica have already proven the viability of this type of 5G technology as a communication system for autonomous vehicles. These projects, which are already carried out with real traffic and cars, want to test both the communication between vehicles and infrastructure and the intervehicular. Its main objective is to check if the 5G network is ready to solve the possible problems that a vehicle may encounter during its day-to-day life.
Once we achieve that 5G technology is capable of allowing cars to manage, communicate and react instantly in times of emergency, we will now be able to enjoy intelligent services from our vehicle such as road obstacle detection, pedestrian detection at intersections with traffic lights, the warning of a cyclist in the vicinity, or the warning to pedestrians of the arrival of a car.
How 5G works in cars
But how does it work? Pedestrians, for example, are detected by presence sensors connected to traffic lights, to later send this information to the 5G network and make the vehicle alert the driver. In the case of cyclists, other technologies are used such as electronic devices that are added to the bicycle or small indicators that are incorporated into the urban infrastructure to accurately detect the presence of bicycles.
In addition, thanks to the connectivity between the vehicle and other exterior elements , the driver will be able to receive restaurant recommendations when lunchtime approaches or the suggestion to stop for refueling at a nearby gas station when the car is low on fuel.
This type of technology has many options to end up becoming one of the most important elements in relation to the safety of road users. However, there is still a long way to go in this regard, as any traffic incident involving a connected car continues to generate a great stir of opinion . Furthermore, public infrastructure, as well as telecommunications, needs to evolve. It will be useless if vehicles have 5G technology until cities have become connected ecosystems.
