Verizon is partnering with Audi of America to bring 5G to its vehicle lineup, beginning with certain models for the 2024 model year. The deal marks Verizon’s first agreement with a global automaker for 5G-enabled automobiles, bringing embedded 5G Ultra Wideband connectivity into Audi vehicles for augmented mobile services, new driver-assistance features, and connectivity-enabled automated driving.
5G will allow passengers to access entertainment at higher speeds, download firmware and software upgrades over-the-air, and enhance their navigation systems. Additionally, Audi and Verizon are developing cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) systems to allow vehicles to respond to other vehicles and infrastructure around them for low-latency alerts and messages.
“C-V2X technology will be crucial to development of automated vehicles and safety advancements, such as providing a fuller view of vehicle environments beyond what drivers, vehicle cameras and radar systems can observe,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business.
Verizon is also partnering with all three major cloud providers for mobile edge compute services, which can be used to develop innovative safety and autonomous driving features.
Verizon was busy last year researching how wireless technology can be integrated into vehicles to make them safer. In October, it worked with Nissan North America’s Research and Advanced Engineering team on how sensor data from vehicles and surrounding infrastructure can be processed at the edge and communicated back to vehicles. This enables drivers to receive urgent notifications of vulnerable pedestrians or oncoming traffic.
In the spring 2021, Verizon teamed with Honda to research connected safety technology using 5G and mobile edge computing for communication between road infrastructure, vehicles and pedestrians sharing the road. The testing attempted to improve communications and connectivity between drivers, other cars, traffic lights, pedestrians and emergency vehicles to improve threat detection and avoid accidents.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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