Will 5G Improve Autonomous Cars?

Intel believes that 5G wireless networking will be like the 'oxygen' for self-driving cars.

16:13 22 May 2017

In preparation for the launching of 5G wireless technology, Intel is making 5G modem chips that can transfer data and gigabits in seconds over wireless networks. Rob Topol, Intel’s 5G business and technology general manager, believes that this wireless networking will enable self-driving cars to communicate with connected infrastructure.

 

Referring to the company’s recent autonomous car event in San Jose, California, Topol said: “What we were showing with that demonstration is a capability called V-to-X — vehicle to infrastructure, vehicle to pedestrian, or vehicle to vehicle. You’re utilizing the other objects and using a network to give the car vision beyond things it can’t see through the mechanisms in the car itself — something that’s happening around the corner or further ahead.”

 

When asked about how 5G can contribute to the economy, Topol answered: “It opens new business models. As you talk about a smarter city, or a more efficient factory, or a vehicle that can run autonomously, it does change our behaviors, our habits, and what we can do with our time. I’d agree that 5G will open up many new business opportunities, primarily because of the data that’s coming off these smart and connected machines all around us. The ability to analyze, compute, and harvest that data is going to make us smarter in the way we lay out cities, set up factories, drive cars, and do other things around us.”