How 5G and Edge Computing are Transforming the Personal Transportation Industry?
While growing up, we imagined our future, especially the year 2020 would be similar to the Jetsons, where the means of transportation will be changed. We expected by the year 2020 we would have found the solution to our flying car dream like the Jetsons flew. When we look outside the window, the absence of flying cars will be pretty obvious that it is painful, too. In this modern era, where technology has wholly transformed the way we live our lives. Still, unique innovation is left in the transportation industry. As the development of flying cars with technological advancement has yet to be left to watch.
As we brought up watching flying cars and magic sticks in cartoons, we started imagining that one day when we look outside from the window, we will watch full of flying cars in space. But do you really think flying cars is the need of the hour? Well, look below and see what experts say?
For many reasons, our dream did not become a reality. Someday, it may happen, but we don’t know when that day will come. Experts in the transportation industry realized that with the help of 5g and edge computing, we don’t require flying cars, but rather self-driving ones.
The Statistics Speak Volumes
- The global autonomous vehicle market size is projected to garner $556.67 billion by 2026.
- “10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020,” blared a Business Insider headline from 2016.
- Google owns more than 50 driverless cars in the USA, and it regularly tests on public roads.
- According to the survey, 56% of Americans said that they would not prefer a driverless car. In general, consumer acceptance for the driverless or automotive vehicle is very low/less.
- The government of America is willing to invest a large amount of $4 billion to make driverless cars a reality.
Driving by Wire- The most Leading Trend in the Transportation Industry
Autonomous vehicles may take over our streets and cities sometime in the future around the world. while self-driving personal cars may seem too futuristic at the present time. However, there are plenty of tech and car companies that are actively developing and investing in. This could bring a change in the transportation industry, that means the demand could shift toward more of the on-demand and shared vehicle trend for personal transportation. But the major effect will come when autonomous city buses and fleets of tractor-trailers are ready for prime time.
Can Driverless Cars be a Solution?
Driverless cars help overcome all sorts of problems, like traffic delays and traffic collisions caused by driver delusion. But, it doesn’t stand here. Self-driving cars will bring innovative and exciting applications for a number of industries, like shipping, logistics, transportation, and emergency transportation.
The previous models of driverless cars focused on the approach of an on-board AI processing system that is crunching data and making decisions along with sensors fitted underneath the vehicle. But, that proved to be slightly challenging. In the year 2019, a uber crash in Arizona and that car hit a woman who later died at a hospital. As per reports, the cause was the overwhelming flood of incoming data points and the delay that it took to process those data and make a decision.
The solution lies in the vehicle’s processing ability to send signals reliably and faster to communicate with nearby vehicles, remote servers, and external devices. It will require a large amount of bandwidth. Each day, a vehicle generates data, which is a way more than all of Twitter activity creates in a day across the world. This is where technologies like 5G network and edge computing come in the light as a key required infrastructure element.
What is 5G and Edge Computing and How can these technologies help?
Today, when we talk about 5G networks, the primary thing that comes to mind is that it will have greater bandwidth and higher download speeds available to customer devices. But the most exciting and critical advantage of the 5G network is it required a low latency rate when communicating. Latency measures the time it takes for some data to get to its destination across the network. Current 4G networks have a latency of about 50 milliseconds, and 5G promises low latency of 10-20 milliseconds.
However, when the speed of the car is at 60 mph and needs to brake because the traffic signal turned red, even the latency of 10-millisecond could be dangerous. In a future where innovations like self-driving cars and remote-controlled robotics are finding its way, achieving near-zero latency is becoming more critical. And here edge computing comes in. In the current Verizon test, latency using 5G and Edge computing has been reduced to just one millisecond. “To achieve near-zero latency, where data moves many times faster than the blink of an eye, having computing functions closer to the user is a vital step,” said Koeppe.
Cloud computing solutions and services have offered a multitude of benefits. An increase in the ability to process more data through more connected devices, reliability, energy efficiency, peak data rates, are also benefits of introducing MEC technology. It enabled the business to outsource infrastructure management. More importantly, it accelerated the mobile revolution by allowing business applications. Residing in the cloud to be accessed from anywhere everywhere around the world with the help of internet access.
The Problem Edge Computing Addresses
According to the Forrester reports in 2018, edge computing stood to address several cloud-related challenges, in which some of the critical ones are:
- An increasingly more distributed and flexible workforce
- The limitations of bandwidth and connectivity
- A growing need for low latency and high reliability
- The rapid expansion of the IoT
- Evolving data privacy requirements
- The high cost of data transit and data storage
With 5G Rollouts Finally becoming a Reality
Automotive manufacturers are starting to realize its importance. 5G is an essential component of the manufacturer’s overall approach to autonomous vehicles. Besides the demand for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication to increase road safety, 5G and edge computing would make other critical safety features feasible.
Auto-pilot or Remote Driver- Dealing with the Road Conditions
When the condition of the road becomes too complicated to handle for a computing system, the autopilot feature hands the controls over to the driver. But what if that driver is old-aged or disabled? Will he be able to take control of the vehicle? They may not be able to do so. That’s why some big reputed companies have been continuously experimenting with remote operators sitting at a simulator taking over vehicle controls. To achieve this, the combination of 5G and edge computing will be necessary to get low latency and fast speed.
When it comes to testing autonomous vehicles with 5G communication, Hyundai was the top name among leaders in the market. But, it is still being done in a controlled environment under the supervision of humans along with an excellent environment. Fully autonomous or driverless cars are at least three to four years away from being available in the market to the consumers.
Do you know Hyundai also used 5G technology to navigate its autonomous passenger flying drones? Isn’t it interesting? Is it possible that by 2025 we will not only get to see autonomous vehicles but also flying cars? I will remain hopeful.
For more interesting blogs related to game-changing technology trends 2020, stay tuned with us and keep checking our blog page.