Collaboration for mass produced 5G and connected vehicles
It has been announced by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely) that it plans to launch the first domestically mass-produced 5G and C-V2X-enabled vehicles in 2021. The launch of the new vehicles will be done in collaboration with Gosuncn and Qualcomm, who will assist Geely with 5G and C-V2X products based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform through Gosuncn.
As China’s largest proprietary automobile brand, Geely proposed its four steps G-Pilot strategy for autonomous driving in 2018. Presently, its autonomous driving is at Level 2 and will now provide Level 3 services with 5G and C-V2X technologies in 2021 for selected brands.
Geely has accumulated a considerable amount of experience in intelligent systems, including front camera, front millimetre wave radar, 12 ultrasonic radars, and two 24G rear millimetre-wave radars. It is also at the forefront in forward-looking systems such as collision reduction system, ACC self-adaptive cruise system for reducing driving intensity, AEB system for avoiding accidents, as well as monitoring and reminding system with limited speed identification and fatigue detection. Geely anticipates that future models released in 2021 will increase the demand for 5G and C-V2X on the basis of Level 2 and be equipped with Level 3 autonomous driving technology.
Nakul Duggal, Senior Vice President of Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, said: “Qualcomm Technologies is committed to accelerating the commercial deployment of 5G and C-V2X direct communication technology with the aim of featuring rich, virtually always connected in-vehicle experiences and improving road safety-consciousness and traffic efficiency while promoting the development of autonomous driving.
“We are excited to work with Gosuncn and Geely to support the anticipated deployment of their first vehicle with 5G and C-V2X utilising our Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform.”
Shen Ziyu, Vice President of Geely Research Institute, added: “Future cars will be equipped with T-BOX products that include a smart antenna and built-in 5G and C-V2X. It is Geely’s first vehicle model with Level 3 technology and will be a pioneering vehicle model that realises the 5G network intelligent strategy. Going forward, Geely will also become a proprietary automobile brand with the highest networking rate in China.”
Liu Shuangguang, Chairman of Gosuncn Group, explained: "5G is an inevitable trend of the development of the communications industry. 5G and C-V2X, as a special non-line-of-sight sensor, will become one of the core technologies of autonomous driving. Gosuncn insists on continuous input in connected car filed, and will delivery safe and reliable 5G and C-V2X connections and products for Geely together with Qualcomm Technologies.
“We are very glad to bring 5G and C-V2X technologies and products for Geely's new models, and will cooperate with Geely to implement the technical certification of high bandwidth and low latency scenarios to realise new models launched on schedule."
With the rapid development of 5G, more countries are clearly embracing 5G development planning. In many industries that utilise 5G applications, smart networking vehicles will be ahead of the IoT industry, such as AR/VR and intelligent manufacturing, hence prioritising commercial and scale development.
It is estimated that the number of 5G base stations of the global telecom operators in 2020 will be up to 10,000 and realise the scale deployment of commercial products.