Vodafone and Continental have joined forces. The two partners are already working on application scenarios at Vodafone’s 5G mobility lab. A digital shield for pedestrians and a traffic jam warning system are two of the focal projects. They will be implemented with 5G, cellular vehicle-to-everything (cellular V2X) and mobile edge computing.
The two partners are testing out new concepts that will benefit drivers, pedestrians and cyclists at the 5G Mobile Lab in Aldenhoven.
The partners are optimizing the wireless network to cope with the immense data requirements of the automotive industry at the 5G Mobility Lab. Tomorrow’s fully automated vehicles will generate up to one gigabyte of data every minute, some of which will be shared with other road users. 5G, the next generation of cellular network technology, will be capable of processing up to 10 gigabits of data per second and make it possible for millions of cars to communicate with each other simultaneously. Road users can only warn each other of potential hazards if they are able to share data in real time. Cellular V2X technology makes that possible because it connects the vehicle to the cloud and facilitates information sharing between vehicles or between vehicles and other road users. Continental and Vodafone are also testing mobile edge computing technology – a technology that enables cloud computing capabilities and an IT service environment at the edge of the cellular network. This technology significantly reduces both the volume of data to be transmitted and the transmission path, and puts information processing speeds into an entirely new dimension.
Mobile edge computing technology will be used at the 5G Mobility Lab to test a digital shield for pedestrians and cyclists because around 25 percent of road traffic deaths (Federal Statistical Office) affect these two groups of road users. Vehicles will have built-in cameras to recognize pedestrians who suddenly decide to cross a road, for example. The camera will send live images to the mobile edge computer at the base station for lightning-speed Artificial Intelligence analysis.
If the system identifies a risk situation, it sends a warning to all the vehicles in the area via the wireless network. This also has advantages for car manufacturers, in addition to drivers and pedestrians. Relocating the computing power necessary for the risk analysis to the mobile edge computing server means that the manufacturer doesn’t have to integrate expensive chip sets in the car.
Cellular V2X technology can extend the radius of the digital shield by allowing vehicles, people and the infrastructure to directly share information, even when the hazard is beyond the reach of their own surround sensors. Every vehicle user profits from real time information from other vehicles. It allows the driver to make better, faster and more informed decisions in emergency situations, even if the hazard is outside the range of the vehicle’s own surround sensors. Pedestrian safety is also improved because drivers get advance warning if a pedestrian is dangerously close and are able to respond faster.
Traffic jam warning system to prevent rear-end collisions
The two partners are also developing a traffic jam warning system based on V2X technology. The vehicles in a traffic jam send data via cellular V2X directly to all the other road users in the vicinity – both via the conventional wireless network and direct communication technology. An alternative route can be proposed to vehicles that are still some kilometers away from the traffic jam so that they can circumvent it. Vehicles approaching the end of the traffic jam are sent a direct warning so they can reduce their speed and avoid the risk of a rear-end collision.q
The technology company Continental and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) have agreed to enter into a partnership. DFKI, which is spread over several locations, is the world’s largest non-profit organization for researching artificial intelligence (AI). The collaboration will focus on improving internal processes and on the mobility of the future. “The collaboration with DFKI is part of our strategy to strengthen Continental as a technology company by using artificial intelligence at all levels. Continental will become an ‘AI-empowered company’,” says Kurt Lehmann, corporate technology officer at Continental, to mark the signing of the contract. “AI should support our employees in their work and provide them with new tools.” Furthermore, AI is the central pillar of mobility in the future. “We are now working on the assumption that autonomous driving will not be possible without artificial-intelligence technologies,” underlines Lehmann.
Joint research in DFKI ecosystem
As part of the collaboration, the Forschungslabor Intelligente Technologien, FIT for short (research lab for intelligent technologies), will be established at the DFKI location in Kaiserslautern. Here, in the ecosystem of DFKI labs, Continental employees will research the fundamentals of AI technology and address specific problems. This will include researching AI-supported methods of data analysis and software development. Continental is also working on developing AI-based tools that will help the more than 16,000 software and IT employees worldwide with quality assurance and upgrading functions.