Using 5G to deliver connected and cooperative services for improved road safety and traffic efficiency

The future of road transportation is linked to the means by which the vehicle is sharing data and thus cooperates with its surrounding environment (other vehicles, other road users, the roadside infrastructure, the urban infrastructure) and also with distant peers (services providers, road operators, OEMs, fleet management platforms, insurance companies, …) in order to improve the safety, the efficiency and experience of road transportation. Road transportation resilience is thus migrating from “connected services” to “cooperative services”.

Current operational telecommunication means to share data and operate connected and cooperative services are cellular (4G, i.e. LTE) and vehicular WiFi (ITS-G5 in Europe). Cellular technologies are used to connect the vehicle to the cloud whereas vehicular WiFi is used to exchange data locally without any telecommunication infrastructure (V2X). Both types of technologies are needed as one cannot rely on a telecommunication infrastructure everywhere, anytime, for everything, particularly when life safety is at stake.

With the emergence of 5G everywhere on the planet, we need to prepare for the integration of 5G as a new and more effective means to deliver connected and cooperative services.

Integrating 5G in connected and cooperative services is not just plug & play simply putting a SIM card in a telematic unit. In order to meet the promises of 5G we actually need to integrate new functionalities. Example of functionalities include how time-critical & safety-of-life services can be delivered with a guarantee of delivery and latency, or how services could be delivered securely in compliance with personal data and location privacy regulations.

This is the purpose of the participation of YoGoKo in the 5GASP European Project (2021-2023). 5GASP (5G Application & Services experimentation and certification Platform /+ https://www.5gasp.eu) is developing and deploying the technical building blocks facilitating the integration of 5G to deliver innovative services, with a specific focus on Automotive and Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) use cases. These building blocks are deployed in the form of Network Applications.

As a front runner in the deployment of advanced connected and cooperative services for road transportation, the role of YoGoKo as a partner in this project is to develop the features that will allow the delivery of standardized cooperative services using 5G. In Europe, these services (CAM, DENM, SAM, SPaT/MAP, CPM, …) are based on Cooperative (C-ITS) standards developed by ETSI (TC ITS), ISO (TC 204) and CEN (TC 278). Such services are currently deployed under the framework of the C-Roads platform CRoads (https://www.c-roads.eu/platform.html) with major deployments everywhere in Europe, for instance in France (SCOOP http://www.scoop.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/en/) and IDiD https://trimis.ec.europa.eu/project/indid), in Portugal (https://www.linkedin.com/company/c-roads-pt/) or in Scandinavia (Nordic Way https://www.nordicway.net).