Telecommunication and automotive conglomerates SoftBank and Honda have begun a collaborative program whose focus will be on fifth generation (5G) mobile network’s capabilities of improving communication for connected car technology. 5G promises real-time speed and higher capacity connectivity, and its 4G counterpart pales in comparison. The anticipation of the network has prompted carriers around the world to invest in infrastructure necessary for enabling the innovative network’s rollout.
It’s worth mentioning how companies in the Internet of Things (IoT) and autonomous vehicle fields intend to heavily rely on 5G, two fields that are just beginning their rapid growth. According to SoftBank, the company will reportedly install “experimental” 5G base stations, which will be installed at Honda R&D’s Takasu Proving Ground. The property is a private test driving course in Northern Japan that’s been used by Honda for years. The collaborative project is set to begin in April 2018.
Accounting for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and internet connectivity innovations, SoftBank and Honda aim on working towards developing new onboard antennas for facilitating better communication between high-speed vehicles. Both companies will also conduct research on means of supporting “recovery” technologies in areas with weak signals. Honda and SoftBank have invested a substantial amount of resources in future-proofing their respective businesses for the anticipated boom of autonomous vehicle and IoT industries.
Both companies have notable histories in innovative research. In 2016, SoftBank and a company known as Advanced Smart Mobility unveiled SB Drive, which is an autonomous vehicle joint venture. The project’s goal was to commercialize smart mobility services, where self-driving technologies are utilized. Honda also began researching R&D partnership collaborations with Alphabet’s self-driving vehicle Waymo, who previously announced its plans of seeing autonomous vehicles on highways within the next 3-5 years.
Wireless infrastructures capable of supporting transfers of large data portions will be pivotal for these plans. This is why the upcoming 5G trials at Honda’s Takasu Proving Ground will prove extremely valuable to the joint research program.
Filed Under: Automotive, Wireless • 5G and more, M2M (machine to machine)
