Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications holds enormous potential to significantly improve traffic flow and road safety well before automated driving becomes ubiquitous—and at a much lower cost. But real-time communications between vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and infrastructure only works if every road user can talk to every other road user. However, there are two competing technologies that may leave part of the driving public with a collection of HD-DVDs in a world of Blu-Ray players as educated short-range communications (DSRC) and cellular-V2X (C-V2X) face off.
The established player in this space, DSRC roadside units are in place along many European highways. The offshoot of Wi-Fi that falls under the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ 802.11 protocol specification has been in development for the better part of two decades and is already in use for a number of applications. Truck platooning companies such as Peloton Technology and carmakers including Toyota and General Motors are using DSRC for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications.
Holding off on Moving Forward?
In late 2016, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a proposed regulation that would have mandated DSRC-based V2V on new vehicles beginning in about 2020. However, the Trump administration has not moved forward on enacting it and any actions are unlikely during the tenure of the current administration.
Earlier this year, Toyota announced plans to begin deploying DSRC on its US model lineup in 2021 with the hopes of spurring the rest of the industry and local authorities to deploy the technology. However, despite the technology’s maturity, no other car company has yet committed to deployment in the absence of a federal mandate.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has kicked off a test as part of the UK Connected Intelligent Transport Environment (UK-CITE) program to measure real-world performance of V2X communications. Colin Lee, JLR, V2X group manager, explained that the test is evaluating total transmission latencies across multiple modes and technologies using DSRC from car to roadside units, fiber to the cloud, and LTE back to the car.
Meanwhile, the two biggest proponents of C-V2X, which evolved from LTE direct technology, are communications chip companies Qualcomm and Huawei. Qualcomm recently conducted public demonstrations in Detroit, Michigan, Munich, Germany, and elsewhere with partners including Ford and Audi. In fall 2018, Qualcomm, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and other partners will launch the first large-scale pilot of C-V2X in the Denver, Colorado area. Qualcomm promises an integrated chipset that combines the cellular data modem and C-V2X by the end of 2020—it should add less than $50 to the cost of the car.
In the interim, NXP, which makes DSRC chips and is currently in the process of being acquired by Qualcomm, has announced its own integrated chip that combines Wi-Fi and DSRC potentially at a cost even less than Qualcomm’s solution. In both cases, the companies are using technologies in cellular data and Wi-Fi that are rapidly becoming ubiquitous. By the early 2020s, both are expected to have nearly 100% on new vehicles in developed markets.
Too Little Too Late for DSRC Proponents
Unfortunately, for proponents of DSRC, it may turn out to be a case of you snooze, you lose. At least currently, DSRC is generally still believed to have an advantage over C-V2X for latency (the time required to transmit and receive messages). However, in the absence of a critical mass of DSRC-equipped vehicles, C-V2X proponents are pushing their technology as lower cost and having greater extensibility as the industry transitions to 5G in the early 2020s.
https://guidehouseinsights.com/news-and-views/dsrcs-window-of-opportunity-may-have-passed-for-vehicletoeverything-communications
2018-08-22T00:00:00+00:00