“The speed of the 5G network enables transmitting large 3D views between vehicles. As a result, the communication distances of car observations can be increased and data can be obtained from areas which the car's own sensors do not cover and are not in its view,” says the leader of the 5G-Safe project, aiming for reducing road traffic accidents, Tiia Ojanperä at VTT.
The new vehicular network solutions and the local road weather and road safety services enable supporting drivers, road operators and the control systems of automated vehicles. They will require no action from motorists while driving – data will be gathered and warnings will be sent to users automatically, VTT says.
The first piloting target was VTT’s robot car Martti, which was used to test the ability to detect obstacles and ruts in the road. A demo implemented in Sodankylä was based on the data transmission of the LiDAR sensor on a 12.5Hz frequency to the MEC server of VTT’s 5G test network. There, the data was received by Unikie’s algorithm, of which the warnings enabled optimising Martti’s route according to its abilities.
The new solutions piloted under the 5G-Safe project are currently being finalised on the basis of the experiences and results gained so far. Scheduled for completion at the end of 2018, the project is also used to seek for new business opportunities for the companies involved.