5G Automotive Association (5GAA) and the European Automotive and Telecom Alliance have signed partnership MOU, which will see cooperation around jointly promoting the Cellular-V2X industry in term of use cases, standardization, spectrum, and pre-deployment projects with cellular based communication technologies.
5GAA and EATA commit to prioritize use cases that are identified from two organizations to figure out the technical requirement to be addressed from short to long term. In order to better support connected and automated driving standard, standardization prioritization for the standard bodies such as ETSI, 3GPP, SAE, etc. is necessary as well.
The agreement between MNO and OEM is deemed important to help work out a business model and unify an industry timeline.
5GAA is a multi-industry association to develop, test and promote communications solutions, initiate their standardization and accelerate their commercial availability and global market penetration to address societal need.
Meanwhile, the main goal of the EATA alliance is to promote the wider deployment of connected and automated driving in Europe.
The first concrete step is the advancement of a “Pre-Deployment Project” aimed at testing use-case categories such as C-ITS services, automated driving, road safety and traffic efficiency. The tests will identify and address both technological and regulatory issues.
Among other important elements, the project will tackle interoperability issues as well as infrastructure investment to address connectivity needs, and the improving of safety and security.
“This MOU with the 5GAA not only brings the different industry partners closer together, but also reinforces the European Commission’s strategy on cooperative, connected and automated mobility that was launched at the end of 2016,” said Erik Jonnaert, chairman of the EATA Steering Committee.
“Car connectivity and automation will require a mix of communications technologies, but it is clear that 5G technology can become a key enabler of Europe’s digital highways,” said Jonnaert.