CARIAD, the Volkswagen Group’s software unit, will playing an important role in achieving this goal, by developing a new vehicle OS for the entire Volkswagen Group and facilitating autonomous driving functions. In the meantime, Audi is developing new business models and revenue streams through retail, its vehicles, new mobility services and the internet of things (IoT). As part of Audi Media Days during IAA MOBILITY 2021, Spotlight Digitalization provided an overview of the core digitalization activities undertaken by the OEM.

One of these activities is the goal of transitioning of Audi’s vehicles into personal experience devices that will provide drivers with a living and working space tailored to their needs. Audi has also said that it plans to provide occupants with new possibilities and free spaces. Another is the creation of a premium experience at all brand touchpoints, online and offline. To achieve this goal Audi is increasingly shifting its focus to the fields of software and IT solutions. Within these areas, it plans to develop new products in a number of areas, from digital sales structures, e-commerce platforms, and interfaces to smart cities infrastructures, to production and logistics. Audi has also confirmed that a personalized website, improved myAudi app features, and additional consultation options will form a key part of its future plans

The website, which was relaunched in spring 2021, is the point of entry into Audi’s digital offerings, providing customers with personalized information on all models and services. At its heart is an interactive car configurator with high-end visualizations and detailed information. At any point during the configuration process, the user has the option of saving their selected configuration online using a code, downloading it in the form of a brochure, switching directly to an online consultation, or scheduling a test drive at a local dealership.

The myAudi app remains key to Audi’s digitally operations, allowing customers to access important vehicle data and digital services. Following the app’s relaunch, new vehicle-related functions will be available to view. With functions on demand, Audi customers will be able to book additional options through myAudi to align the car more precisely with their individual needs. For that, different durations and booking options will be available, allowing customers to familiarize themselves with a function by booking a one-month test phase. Likewise, Audi’s connect packages can be extended, and new premium features can be booked through the app. Here as well, the customer will be able to choose different durations for individual digital products.

Audi’s shift to digital operations is also offering new possibilities for on-site consultation at the dealership. For example, the customer experience in the OEM’s new flagship store in Munich adopts interactive modules and large-scale visualizations. Through a configurator, Audi models are presented interactively to the customer in photorealistic depictions. That way, the desired configuration can be shown in 3-D as well as in-stock cars with similar equipment from other locations, all in real time. Another example is the possibility of Audi Live consultation, a digital consultation solution that sees employees linked with online customers via data glasses. Audi will also develop its digital sales along with its retail trade – aiming to develop a central e-commerce platform on which customers can quickly find the services they are looking – from new and used vehicle purchasing, to maintenance packages, to leasing and financing.

Audi also emphasized its commitment to new infotainment functions, such as its Holoride in-vehicle entertainment system. The OEM will leverage 5G in its vehicles to provide customers with high-resolution multi-channel audio and video streaming, video conferencing, and in-vehicle VR gaming. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) will enable high data rates for applications that require a lot of bandwidth, increasing comfort and safety. Audi also discussed the potential for an “empathetic car” in the future. This vehicle would know its occupants, their habits and their needs – and use AI to increase the user’s comfort, safety, and wellbeing. In China, Audi’s A7 L and A6 L models will initially be equipped with a 5G communications module to facilitate autonomous driving in the future . With its low latency and high availability, 5G offers the conditions needed for safe autonomous driving.

Using data, Audi said that it could better analyze the customers’ desires to derive product optimizations, new digital services, or business models – enabling its model portfolio and services to be adapted to different markets and individual customer needs. Other examples of how Audi could leverage this data included the expansion of business models to new fields – such as traffic reporting and data-based services for safe and relaxing travel, entertainment offerings, or personalized telematics information for insurance products or fleet services. It would also implement a privacy mode, which would enable the customer to limit data streams directly from the vehicle. This data can also be used to enhance driver safety through C-V2X. To prevent accidents, more than 1.7 million vehicles from the Volkswagen Group will provide the “Hazard Information” C-V2X service with current data in 2021, with this figure to increase to 3 million the following year.

Audi is playing a central role in the Volkswagen Group’s digitalization strategy. As part of Automotive Initiative 2025 (AI25), Audi is expanding its Neckarsulm location to include a leading factory for digital production and logistics. Partners like the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, the Technical University of Munich, SAP, and Capgemini are supporting that process. AI25 is an interdisciplinary network for factory transformation. Within it, the Neckarsulm site will play a pivotal role as a pilot factory and laboratory for the digital transformation. Solutions will be tested and developed there until they are ready for series production. One of these solutions is the Digital Production Platform (DPP), in which data from machines, facilities, and systems from factories in the Volkswagen Group are brought together in one IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) platform. Following the expansion of its Neckarsulm plant, Audi will roll out its digital solutions in Group locations worldwide.

Another digital technology actively being used by Audi is RFID (radio frequency identification), which is being used for contactless vehicle identification in production. With Supermarket 2.0, Audi is reversing the sequencing principle in the field of intralogistics by using driverless transportation systems. Here, goods come to the employee rather than the other way around. This is possible through control software developed by Audi and arculus, an Ingolstadt-based start-up. The Predictive Maintenance project in Neckarsulm makes upkeep on production facilities more efficient and reduces downtime in production. Furthermore, AI is used in the field of quality assurance, for example in recognizing the smallest cracks in sheet metal parts. Using VR glasses and controllers, employees from various specialties and locations tested assembly processes completely virtually. The basis for those tests is 360-degree scans, which provide a three-dimensional indoor map of the virtual space as well as VR software that Audi developed itself. That technology was used for the first time in preparations for production of the Audi e-tron GT1 at the Neckarsulm location.

Audi is currently training its workforce for its digital future. Prospective mechatronics technicians, for example, can receive additional training in 3-D printing and trainees from factory logistics can practice routine activities via VR.

Halo has operated on the T-Mobile 5G network since it began driving on Las Vegas’ public roads earlier this year. Halo is collaborating with local municipalities to accelerate the adoption of EVs to address traffic congestion and carbon emission challenges by connecting public transit systems to on-demand, driverless cars. The company expects to begin offering rides to customers later this year with service initially available in urban parts of the Las Vegas Valley. When fully deployed in the city, Halo has the opportunity to replace the need for thousands of personally owned cars, creating a more traffic-free, carbon-free, blue-sky world.

A People First Approach Towards Autonomy

Halo’s service is safe and easy to use. Riders will simply summon a driverless EV via a mobile app. A driverless Halo arrives at the pick-up location and the rider hops in and drives to their destination. Upon arrival, no parking is needed — the Halo moves driverlessly to its next pick-up location.

With its proprietary RemotePilot technology, Halo trains in-house drivers to remotely operate the driverless car over T-Mobile’s 5G network. Halo has developed an Advanced Safe Stop mechanism enabling its cars to immediately come to a full stop if a potential safety hazard or system anomaly is detected. Using an advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithm, the car also learns in the background while humans control the vehicle, building a unique feedback loop to achieve Level 3 capabilities over time.

Halo, a graduate of the 5G Open Innovation Lab co-founded by T-Mobile, is an early leader in driverless and autonomous car technology. Founded by executives from Uber, Cruise Robotics, Proterra, Amazon, and more, Halo is poised to serve a global $2.5 trillion-dollar transportation market creating local jobs with an innovative, on-demand car-sharing model.

Through their partnership with the University of Michigan’s Mcity, a test bed for connected and autonomous vehicles, Honda and Verizon are teaming up to research how new connected safety technology using 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC) could ensure fast, reliable communication between road infrastructure, vehicles and pedestrians sharing the road, thus reducing collisions and saving lives.

Super-fast, reliable and low-latency data transmission at the edge of the network is essential for connected vehicle safety. Verizon’s 5G and MEC platforms bring the power of the cloud closer to the vehicle,  lowering latency, offering massive bandwidth, and improving communications and connectivity between drivers, other cars, traffic lights, pedestrians and emergency vehicles to improve threat detection and avoid accidents when seconds matter most.

Since 2017, Honda has been developing a technology to realize a collision-free society called SAFE SWARM. Using Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication, Honda SAFE SWARM enables vehicles to communicate with other road users and share key information such as location, speed, and vehicle sensor data. One limitation of this approach is the need to outfit each vehicle with onboard artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. The use of 5G helps move the AI capabilities from the vehicle to the MEC, reducing the need for AI onboard each vehicle.

Using Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband, MEC and V2X software platforms, Honda and Verizon explored three safety scenarios:

• Pedestrian Scenario: A pedestrian is crossing a street at an intersection. An approaching driver cannot see the pedestrian due to a building obstructing the view. Smart cameras mounted in the intersection relay information to MEC using the 5G network. Verizon’s MEC and V2X software platforms detect the pedestrian and vehicle and determine the precise location of road users assisted by Verizon’s Hyper Precise Location services. A visual warning message is then sent alerting the driver of the potential danger.
• Emergency Vehicle Warning Scenario: A driver cannot see an approaching emergency vehicle and cannot hear its siren due to the high volume of in-vehicle audio. Verizon’s MEC and V2X software receive a safety message from the emergency vehicle and send a warning message to nearby vehicles. The driver receives a visual warning.
•  Red Light Runner Scenario: A vehicle fails to stop at a red light. Using data from the smart cameras, MEC and V2X software detect the vehicle and send a red-light-runner visual warning message to other vehicles approaching the intersection.

Each research scenario demonstrates the potential of 5G and MEC to communicate urgent safety messages between vehicles and infrastructure, reducing the need for complex computing onboard each connected vehicle. In the future, this connected vehicle technology could help ensure that autonomous vehicles will be able to communicate seamlessly.

In the verification project, DENSO and KDDI will build a 5G environment in a test course at Global R&D Tokyo, Haneda, a research and development center for automated driving operated by DENSO. The two companies will verify driver assistance technologies in automated driving vehicles using high-definition in-vehicle cameras and roadside sensors.

In the verification project, DENSO and KDDI will verify systems for efficiently monitoring the vehicle and the situation around it by using high-definition images from high-definition in-vehicle cameras and roadside sensors based on 5G high-speed, large-capacity communication. The companies will leverage low latency connections, which are achieved through edge computing technology for 5G, including AWS Wavelength, to build a system for distributing the ever-changing road situation to automated driving vehicles in real time and to verify the remote driver assistance technology.

DENSO and KDDI plan to conduct verification using end-to-end (E2E) network slicing. This advanced technology provides unique communication environment preferences, depending on the application and requirements, by virtually partitioning a network. The technology is expected to be used in fields such as automated driving where various types of data must be communicated depending on the priority. The two companies will study various applications.

More broadly, the verification project aims to promote the use of 5G in automated driving by combining DENSO’s know-how in developing in-vehicle communication technologies and KDDI’s expertise in advanced network technologies, helping achieve safe and secure mobility for all customers.

Situation 1:
Two M.Billys, Hyundai Mobis’ autonomous driving test vehicle, start autonomous driving one after the other. The information, which the preceding vehicle secured through autonomous driving sensors, e.g. cameras and radars, is reflected on the map in real-time, and delivered to the following vehicle. As the preceding vehicle turns into a side road, comes across a construction zone and stops, the M.Billy, which was just tens of meters behind, uses this information to modify the best route in real-time and takes a detour.

Situation 2:Another vehicle is added, and three M.Billys are driving on the road this time. When the M.Billy in front finds a bicycle that suddenly appears and proceeds to make a sudden stop, the car right behind perceives the situation with its sensors and makes a sudden stop as well. The M.Billy following the second M.Billy does not perceive the sudden stop of the first vehicle with its sensors, but receives this information through the network and immediately changes lanes and avoids collision. Also, the situation that made the vehicle in front suddenly stop is shown in real-time video streaming through the 5G communication network.

Hyundai Mobis held the “Technical Cooperation Result Demonstration” together with KT and Hyundai MnSOFT at the Hyundai Mobis Proving Ground in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do to share the results of joint development of the 5G connected car technology, and discuss future collaboration projects. The above autonomous driving situation is part of the scenario that was actually demonstrated at this meeting.

Hyundai Mobis and KT, which have been cooperating closely with each other since they formed a technical alliance for connected cars last year, successfully completed the first cooperative development projects.

The two companies entered into an MOU for jointly developing the ‘5G-based connected car technology’ last August, and KT built the 5G infrastructure for technology development at the Hyundai Mobis Seosan Proving Ground by the end of last year. Hyundai Mobis began to work in earnest with Hyundai MnSOFT on the first project in January, i.e. development of the real-time navigation update technology and the mobile communication-based Cellular Vehicle to X (C-V2X) technology, and has since been endeavoring to secure related technologies.

Hyundai Mobis developed the technology for collecting traffic information through the sensors of the autonomous driving test vehicle M.Billy, and extracting core information that affects driving and transmitting it to the server. KT supported the connection between the 5G terminals installed in M.Billy and 5G communication base stations, and Hyundai MnSOFT modified and updated the map based on the received information in real-time.

The real-time navigation update technology reflects the traffic information, which preceding vehicles collect and send to the server, in the map in real-time and delivers it to following vehicles. The C-V2X technology uses the mobile communication network to share vast amounts of data with vehicles, infrastructure, other cars and pedestrians in real-time, and thus enhances the safety of autonomous driving. They are essential technologies for securing safety in the age of fully autonomous driving in which the system takes the initiative completely.

Hyundai Mobis and KT used these two technologies to demonstrate 5 scenarios, i.e. real-time precise map update, avoiding construction sections, preventing collision in case the vehicle, which is two cars ahead, makes a sudden stop, emergency situation 5G video streaming and perceiving pedestrians. These scenarios are representative cases of the connected car technology, proposed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) of the US, which match the levels of technology with global standards.

At a live demo event in Berlin, the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) presented a deep-dive into smarter and safer mobility, giving a sneak peek of the technologies ready to be deployed. Prominent 5GAA members including BMW Group, Daimler, Deutsche Telekom, Fraunhofer Institutes FOKUS and ESK, Ford, Huawei, Jaguar Land Rover, Nokia, Qualcomm and Vodafone, demonstrated C-V2X Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) applications.

Using both direct short-range communications and mobile networks offers complementary capabilities as showcased in the demos, which involve tele-operated driving and the provision of emergency traffic information between vehicles using multi-access edge computing (MEC) functionality.

Summary on the 5GAA C-V2X use cases, showcased today at Berlin:

1. Traffic Management Solutions: Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) and Red-Light Violation Warning (RLVW) to Vehicle
2. Traffic Management Solutions: Emergency Electronic Brake light (EEBL)/ Roadworks warning (RWW)
3. Real Time Emergency Alerts: Vehicle-to-Network and Network-to-Vehicle services
4. Live data capture and transmission: Expanded network/Vehicle-to-Network capacities via MEC
5. Combined Network and Direct solution enables the pinnacle of C-V2X technology
6. Remote-operated driving

Designated as Korea’s first free economic zone, IFEZ consists of Songdo, Yeongjong and Cheongna International Cities with a total size of 132.9 km².

SK Telecom will create an HD map covering the entire IFEZ area starting with Songdo International City. An HD map is a machine-readable map with centimeter-level accuracy, offering essential information for self-driving, including lanes, road conditions, speed limits and road slopes. Thus, it is regarded as a key element for achieving Level 4 of autonomy for autonomous vehicles as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers.

The HD map will be built with ‘Dynamic Data Platform,’ a 5G-based real-time update solution for HD maps. Dynamic Data Platform automatically updates HD maps upon receiving road observation data from Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) over 5G network. SK Telecom plans to install ADAS and 5G communication modules to public transport vehicles and official/government cars in the IFEZ area to detect all changes in the road environment.

Moreover, SK Telecom and the IFEZ Authority will build a data hub to systematically manage and analyze data of the floating population to enhance the convenience and safety of citizens through smarter transportation policies.

Samsung’s (Harman) leadership within 5GAA as rapporteur was vital in bringing together many of the foremost automotive C-V2X companies and their commercial C-V2X solutions and test equipment from across the globe including Cohda Wireless, Commsignia, Huawei, Qualcomm Technologies, Keysight Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz, Savari, WNC and Vodafone Automotive. Ford, LG Electronics, Neusoft and Sumitomo Electric also attended the event.

The event demonstrated a high-level of interoperability across all participating companies with 96% of the 249 C-ITS safety test-cases successfully communicated based on both the ETSI ITS specifications and IEEE/SAE ITS standards for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) use cases. As a result, the event validated the automotive industry’s maturity to support the commercial deployment this year of C-V2X solutions throughout the world, with both infrastructure and onboard units.

O2 will enable 5G connectivity to Millbrook testing facilities from June 2019, using its 2.3 GHz and 3.4GHz spectrum in advance of the first phase of its 5G rollout in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London later this year.

The on-site network consists of 59 sites and 89 small cells and is operated by British wireless solution provider Dense Air. Under a 12-month agreement with the AutoAir project, O2 will integrate the sites and small cells into its public infrastructure.

The technology is being tested at Grandrive, Nissan’s proving ground in Yokosuka, Japan.

I2V also connects drivers and passengers to the Metaverse, a virtual world where people can interact through avatars. Family, friends or others in a remote location can appear inside the car as three-dimensional, augmented-reality avatars to provide company or assistance.

For the field test, the companies are using DOCOMO’s high-speed, large-capacity, low-latency mobile 5G connectivity to transmit avatar data wirelessly into the test vehicle, and in-car camera views from the vehicle, in real-time. The test vehicle is based on Nissan’s NV350 Caravan.

The companies will evaluate how the people inside the car and those represented through avatars sense each other’s presence via the user interfaces. The usability of I2V’s interactive communication features will also be assessed.

Nissan and DOCOMO plan to continue their joint field tests and research on I2V technology and its applications and to offer novel connected-car experiences to customers in the future.

Mass production of C-V2X chips including direct communication from several suppliers is ongoing, and multiple radio vendors have already integrated these chips into their automotive radio offerings. In 2019 C-V2X direct communication technology will be commercially available across the globe. Furthermore, full interoperability testing on C-V2X applications is ongoing among 5GAA members.

The first mass-deployment in vehicles on the roads is anticipated to start in China in 2020; to be followed swiftly in other regions when local regulations allow for it.

Geely presented its four steps G-Pilot strategy for autonomous driving in 2018. Currently, its autonomous driving is at L2 and will now provide L3 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 millimeter wave radar, 12 ultrasonic radars, and two 24G rear millimeter-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 L2 and be equipped with L3 autonomous driving technology.

The Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform with integrated C-V2X direct communication technology is designed to provide the low latency, high data speed, and reliable cellular connection coverage required for next-generation connected cars and autonomous driving.

Micron created a portfolio of ultra-small 8×9.5mm, 149 ball count multichip package (MCP) solutions with SLC NAND plus LPDDR4 rated at automotive temperature grade to pair with the Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform, creating opportunities for immersive in-vehicle experiences and automotive safety.

The Snapdragon Automotive 4G and 5G Platforms feature integrated C-V2X direct communications, high-precision multi-frequency global navigation satellite system (HP-GNSS) and RF Front-End (RFFE) functionalities to support major operators across key spectrum bands globally.

The platforms are designed to provide support for rich in-vehicle experiences, including dual SIM dual active (DSDA) (included on the Snapdragon Automotive 5G Platform), precise positioning for lane level navigation accuracy, multi-gigabit cloud connectivity, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-roadside infrastructure (V2I) communications for safety, high bandwidth low latency teleoperations support, each of which are key requirements for automotive safety, platooning, autonomous, and always-connected driving experiences.

The new Snapdragon Automotive 4G and 5G Platforms are expected to sample later this year and are planned for production vehicles in 2021.

The application scenarios explored by Vodafone and Continental include the Digital Shield. Here, the road users are equipped with a communication module, in the case of cyclists and pedestrians, for example, with a smartphone and cars with a special V2X module. The road users exchange their position and direction of travel via a base station of the mobile network. If the system detects that the roads cross dangerously, they will be warned. This system is also able to protect cyclists from right turners and thus from dangerous accidents.

Also providing more protection for pedestrians and cyclists in-vehicle cameras and artificial intelligence on the network side (Mobile Edge Computing), which recognize the intentions of pedestrians and cyclists. For example, a child who suddenly runs into a ball, after a ball or a person lying on the street can be recognized. However, the resulting data not only require intelligent evaluation, but also lightning fast data transmission in the millisecond range. This is achieved by combining 5G technology with mobile edge computing. Tiny 5G data centers with extremely short access times near the cell towers allow near real-time analysis using AI.

5G-Ready will be tested under real-world conditions in the 5G Mobility Lab of Vodafone in Aldenhoven.

The view through the vehicle ahead

The tests have confirmed that the new communication technologies can also be used to make traffic obstructions transparent. The system uses the camera images of a vehicle in front to show the following vehicles, for example, before an overtaking maneuver on the highway, if there is oncoming traffic.

Another use case presented by Continental and Vodafone in Barcelona is a traffic jam warning. At the same time, vehicles approaching the end of the jam are alerted to the obstacle long before they reach the line of sight. Thus, the speed can be reduced early on, which can prevent dangerous emergency braking.

The live public demonstrations showed the system delivering greater than 1 Gbit/s capacity to a McLaren sports car while travelling at 160 mph on the Millbrook high-speed bowl with handovers occurring every 2 seconds. Real-time Telemetry was provided by McLaren’s Altas system.

A second demonstration showed real-time video streaming between multiple vehicles. The video was streamed between a range of different passenger cars, coaches and emergency vehicles which included police cars, fire trucks and ambulances.

SEAT and Telefónica are going to launch the ‘5G Connected Car’ pilot test by unveiling the concept car developed as a mobility platform at the Mobile World Congress (MWC).

This initiative enables communication between the car, the surrounding infrastructure and other cars as a first step toward collaborative, autonomous driving.

Balong 5000 multi-mode chipset supports Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communications, providing low-latency and highly reliable solutions for connected vehicles.

The MAE solution carries three concepts: All-Scenario Oriented, AI Inside, and Autonomy by Layer (3A).

• All-Scenario Oriented: Network operation transfers from NE-oriented to scenario-oriented.
• AI Inside: AI capabilities are introduced to build an intelligent engine that converges management and control, endowing the network with new capabilities, such as scenario awareness and identification, network prediction, and self-learning.
• Autonomy by Layer: Closed-loop autonomy is used to shield the various scenarios and enable efficient collaboration. Customers only need to focus on intentions and policies.

The test results show that Cellular Vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) direct communications technology outperforms 802.11p/DSRC. With a natural evolution path towards the low latency and high bandwidth benefits of 5G NR, C-V2X also demonstrated superior performance in several dimensions, including the following:

• Enhanced reliability over extended communications range
• Better non-line-of-sight performance
• Greater resiliency to interference (e.g. arising from other devices)

These performance advantages are particularly important in the most difficult environments such as non-line-of-sight scenarios (e.g., around a corner, highway queue forming etc.), where resident onboard sensors and radars have certain limitations.

The design and execution of each experiment were set up to ensure that environmental conditions, radio frequency parameters, system integration details and physical structures were consistent when comparing 802.11p/DSRC and C-V2X direct communications.