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Automotive
The German Big Three have partnered with leading global technology companies to ensure the smoothest possible transition to the 5G mobile network in automotive applications.
IHS Markit Perspective
The Big Three premium German OEMs Audi, BMW and Daimler have formed a cross-industry 5G Automotive Association with technology companies Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm, according to a joint press release. All the companies named above will collaborate in a research and development (R&D) alliance that will look to promote 5G technology solutions for the automotive industry and work towards establishing common standards and architecture. The "5G Automotive Association" will also work together to accelerate commercial availability of the technology and global market penetration. The main goal of the project is to address society's "connected and road safety needs with applications such as connected automated driving, ubiquitous access to services and integration into smart cities and intelligent transportation.
In terms of OEM requirements, this will be a major step towards providing the kind of connected car and autonomous driving capability that is central to the future product strategy of premium OEMs, as well as facilitating the longer-term shift towards the likes of Audi, BMW, Daimler expanding their roles from that of being simply traditional carmakers to dovetailing that role with also being innovative personal transport providers, using a host of models including car-sharing, ride-hailing services and new personal mobility solutions that will be developed over the next few decades. Next-generation 5G networks in automotive applications will combine with Cellular Vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communication, to help the shift of the role of the car changing to a vehicle driven by a person to becoming, over the longer term, a fully autonomous mobile work and leisure space with a focus on the shift towards the Internet of Things and the digitalisation of industries. Commenting on the Association being established Dr Christoph Grote, Senior Vice-President of Electronics for the BMW Group said, "We expect 5G to become the worldwide dominating mobile communications standard of the next decade. For the automotive industry it is essential that 5G fulfills the challenges of the era of digitalization and autonomous driving.
The new association's core activities will be defined as follows, according to the press release:
Outlook and implications
The mobile communications industry will move across to 5G over the next few years, with the mobile industry equivalent body to the 5G Automotive Association, the "Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance" aiming to have the new technology format by 2020 to meet the requirements "of business and consumers". Therefore it is timely that the automotive industry has formed an equivalent body to accelerate the integration of the next-generation mobile technology network into the automotive space. As an evolution of the current 4G/IMT-Advanced industry standard networks, 5G is expected to handle much more data volume, connect many more devices and bring greater levels of reliability, so it is easy to understand the potential benefits to both manufacturers and consumers in the move towards fully autonomous driving and the connected car. Harmonised standards and commonality in architecture and operating systems are essential if key technologies are to gain traction and the establishment of this association will help ensure collaboration on architectures and operating systems for automotive applications. According to the press release, several companies have already expressed strong support for the 5GAA and declared their intent to join the Association in the near future, and all members of the body will welcome new participants to give the movement further critical mass towards establishing standards and commonality. A couple of obvious missing exceptions on the technology side are Apple and Google, which already have their own automotive connectivity platforms in the form of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It remains to be seen if Google and Apple will join at a later date, but their participation would ensure a smooth transition to 5G within the automotive industry.
About this article
The above article is from IHS Automotive Same-Day Analysis of automotive news, events and trends, and is a deliverable of the World Markets Automotive Service. The service averages thirty stories per day and also provides competitor and country intelligence. Get a free trial.