Telephone companies have already started offering the first 5G services in some of the main Spanish cities. The launch of this fifth generation of connectivity will help us fully enter the era of the Internet of Things, smart cities and even autonomous driving. But, let us start at the beginning. When we talk about 5G we refer to the fifth generation, successor to 4G technology, of mobile phone technologies, which allows browsing at a speed of up to 1.2 gigabits per second thanks to its low latency – that is, the time that passes between you send a request until you receive the first bit of response–, which allows you to multiply the number of objects connected to the network. All these possibilities that it offers will help to develop the so-called Smart Cities (smart cities) in the field of mobility.
More connection than ever
With the introduction of 5G technology in smart cities , our cars, which until now only offered the information that the driver could see, will receive data from the environment before we see them. The vehicles, communicated with each other and with the infrastructures, will be able to detect pedestrians, cyclists and other obstacles in advance, which would reduce the number of traffic accidents and improve road safety.
In this area, there are already companies that are taking the first steps in this direction, testing the viability of this type of 5G technologies . 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. Only then will we be able to enjoy intelligent services such as road obstacle detection, pedestrian detection at crossings with traffic lights, warning of a cyclist in the vicinity, or warning pedestrians of the arrival of a car.
All advantages, or not?
As a consequence, the arrival of 5G will bring advantages such as the reduction of traffic jam problems or the fall in accidents. However, it would also entail some other disadvantages such as, for example, user privacy, which could be put at risk. The communication of the vehicle with other devices will leave a record, so we would have to see how the legislation is developed to protect ourselves in these cases, preventing our data from being exposed to third parties .
Despite everything, we hope to find solutions that respond to these dangers that this technology faces, since 5G has many options to become 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 . In addition, public and telecommunications infrastructure need to continue to evolve in this regard, since otherwise it will be useless for vehicles to have this type of technology.
