The goal of this report is to:
- Analyze current trends in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) development
- Address the progress in the ITS standardization
- Analyze technological and marketing ITS specifics
- Address the connected car trend
- Analyze the connected car technologies and marketing specifics; identify major industry players and their portfolios
- Present the current status of the driverless car development
- Analyze marketing and technological driverless car specifics
- Analyze the lidar technologies and market as well as the industry for automotive applications
- Show how communications industry is preparing for the 5G era, emphasizing the role of 5G mobile communications in supporting the driverless car development. The driverless car is one of important 5G use cases.
Though never managing to successfully predict what each forthcoming generation of mobile technology should deliver to satisfy future users, the industry has nonetheless reached some consensus on the use cases for 5G communications. Machine to machine communications is one. 5G should enable the IoT, the future where all online-enabled objects will quietly pass on data to each other or to a central computer.
Facilitating the use of mobile networks by connected and autonomous cars, remotely controlled industrial robots, telehealth systems, and smart city infrastructure are also all expected to figure large in 5G thinking. There is a common notion the industry is hoping that 5G will solve problems we don't have today, but those that could hold us back years in the future - and one of the best examples to such a statement is a driverless car.
This particular report addresses the Intelligent Transportation Systems progress in reaching its ultimate goal - to make a car “intelligent” enough to safely drive without a human participation. It also updates the status of a driverless car development in connection with transition to the 5G era: the industry identified driverless cars as most viable form of ITS, dominating the roadways by 2040 and sparking dramatic changes in vehicular travel. The report discusses the specifics of the 5G era as they are seen by the industry at the present time with emphasis on what 5G technologies can bring to a driverless car.
Such a car was considered by many as a scientists’ dream only 10-15 years ago; now it is a reality and all predictions are that driverless cars will hit the roads in 6-8 years. Fully developed driverless car needs support of communications systems evolving in the transition to 5G; and these two developments are interrelated - a driverless car becomes a 5G use case.
The report provides overview of the current status of the driverless car development, pictures the future steps, which the industry is planning, analyzes roadblocks, and emphasizes the importance of standardization - several organizations are working in this area. The analysis concentrates on technological and marketing aspects of driverless cars and also on the status of the industry.
The survey of driverless cars projects currently underway is conducted; as well as the survey of related patents (2018-2024). Initial marketing statistics are developed.
The detailed analysis of two important parts of a driverless car - lidar (one of the critical components of ADAS) and the communications gear - “connected car” - is performed. The survey of recent auto lidar patents is also performed.
A driverless car, for simplicity, may be described as a combination of a connected car and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems); and other parts. The ADAS important part is driverless car “eyes” - an instrument that can “see” surroundings and provide the information to the car for the analysis and taking relevant actions. One of most promising technologies that makes cars “to see” is lidar, which is composed of laser and other parts. The report provides the detailed analysis of lidar technical and marketing characteristics and the survey of the industry.
The detailed analysis of connected cars specifics, standardization, technical characteristics and economics are presented in this report. The companies - contributors to the connected car market development - are identified and their portfolios are analyzed.
The report also compares two main directions in vehicle communications:
- C-V2X - Cellular - based
- 802.11p/DSRC/WAVE- based
By 2024, based on the analysis of the FCC recent decisions and opinions in the industry, C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything) is emerging as the dominant technology over WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments), which is based on DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Communications).
The shift towards C-V2X has been driven by several factors:
- Regulatory Support: The FCC has been actively supporting C-V2X, including approving waivers for its use in the 5.9 GHz band.
- Technological Advancements: C-V2X leverages 4G and 5G networks, offering greater range and reliability compared to DSRC.
- Global Adoption: Countries like China are leading the way, with significant investments and a national strategy for C-V2X. By 2025, it’s expected that 50% of new cars in China will have C-V2X pre-installed.
This trend indicates that C-V2X is likely to become the standard for vehicle communication, enhancing safety and efficiency on the roads.
The report also emphasizes the importance of 5G mobile networking as a basis for the driverless car ITS revolution. With “ultimate” ITS, it is expected that safety on the roads will be drastically improved and the society will be free from massive number of injuries and deaths on the roads as well as from damages to the economy due to accidents and traffic jams.
A preliminary evaluation of the COVID-19 impact on the driverless car industry development is presented.
In general, the 2024 situation with driverless car development shows that the optimism of the 2015-2019 period when many industry analysts predicted L4/L5 driverless cars commercialization is a today event changed to more realism - we are still far away from the fully driverless environment.
The report is intended to technical and managerial staff involved in the advanced ITS development; and for specialists in communications technologies who support such a development.
Table of Contents
Companies Mentioned
- AutoTalks
- Cohda Wireless
- Delphi
- Harman
- Kapsch
- NXP
- Siemens
- Qualcomm
- u-blox
- AT&T
- Airbiquity Inc.
- Apple
- Broadcom
- Ericsson
- Ficosa
- GM
- MobilEye (Intel Company)
- Nokia
- Qualcomm
- Streetline
- Verizon
- Visteon
- Wind River
- Zubie
- AEye
- Aeva
- Analog Devices
- ASC
- Baraja
- Cepton
- Hesai
- Ibeo (subsidiary of SICK AG)
- Innoviz
- Lasertel (a Leonardo Company)
- Luminar
- Lumibird
- LeddarTech
- Newsight Vision
- Neuvition
- On Semiconductor
- Quanergy
- Robosense
- Valeo
- Velodyne
- Waymo (Alphabet)
- XenomatiX
- Ford
- GM
- Nissan
- Daimler/Mercedes
- Volvo Cars
- Tesla Motors
- SAIC
- BMW
- Alphabet/Google
- Baidu
- Huawei
- Swisscom
- Continental Automotive
- Nvidia
- Uber
- Lyft
- Nuro
- Aurora
- Poni.ai
- TuSimple
- Beep
Methodology
Considerable research was done using the Internet. Information from various Web sites was studied and analyzed; evaluation of publicly available marketing and technical publications was conducted.
Telephone conversations and interviews were held with industry analysts, technical experts and executives. In addition to these interviews and primary research, secondary sources were used to develop a more complete mosaic of the market landscape, including industry and trade publications, conferences and seminars.
The overriding objective throughout the work has been to provide valid and relevant information. This has led to a continual review and update of the information content.
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