Photo by Thimo Pedersen on Unsplash
Written by Nicoletta Moss
As of mid-July 2020, 93 commercial 5G networks went live across the world. But why is this so important for the automotive industry? What do we need to know about 5G?
The future of mobility is electric, autonomous, shared and connected. A car is not only a car anymore. It not only transports us from A to B, but it is our guide, directing us to parking spaces and through traffic jams, our library, concert hall and booking tool. And we would expect that this is all happening simultaneously at the blink of an eye.
5G is enabling this wonderworld of communication and data transfer because it is – to put it in really simple terms – really fast. To be precise 100 times faster than 4G. And because it is fast it has a low latency – this is the time between data arriving and action put in place. Maybe just a fraction of a millisecond – but this fraction could be enough to avoid an accident or not. What is also important is that 5G is more reliable which means a guaranteed delivery of time critical information.
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
The challenge will be to build up the necessary infrastructure. 5G need to be available wherever cars are travelling. During last year’s opening ceremony of the IAA, German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized in her speech that it will be necessary to get 5G coverage on roads. 5G was now one of the focus areas in the 130 billion-euro stimulus package presented in June by her.
Under the guidance of the “5G Action Plan”, European states showed clear ambition of getting ahead in the global race to 5G commercialization, with Elisa, Telia, Swisscom, Sunrise, Vodafone, TIM, and EE being in the first batch of operators rolling out 5G mobile services worldwide. By the end of 2020, all member states of the European Union are expected to have commercial 5G services, making Europe the home nearly of half of all 5G networks e.
Despite the slow-down of 5G network construction by the COVID-19 pandemic the development momentum of 5G is unlikely to be interrupted. Contrary – I do believe that the pandemic has given 5G a push – with more people working from home, strains on local networks were experienced by many. To keep the industry going it will be essential that we can rely on technology. Sectors, like the automotive industry, will profit from this need.
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