A new world record for 5G speeds in a connected car has been set on a racetrack in South Korea.
BMW Group Korea has been conducting trials with Ericsson and SK Telecom with a focus on ensuring a stable and high performance network connection at high driving speeds in order to provide seamless mobility.
In the demonstration announced last week, four radio transmission points operating in the 28GHz band supported data transmission at a peak rate of 3.6Gbps for a car travelling at 170 kilometres per hour.
According to Ericsson, the tests showed sustained high throughput along the driving track, maintaining throughput in excess of 1.5Gbps while data transmission was switched from one transmission point to another.
“This world record breaking performance was enabled by advanced beamforming and beam tracking which allows the base station to transmit signals that follow the 5G device,” the Swedish company said. “Based on this advanced 5G technology from Ericsson, precise tracking was enabled even at very high speeds which opens the door for new 5G services.”
For connected cars — and one day, autonomous cars — to operate effectively, they need a reliable Internet connection.
SK Telecom said that the 3.6Gbps data rate achieved in the demonstration significantly enhances the stability of connected car services by improving image recognition and V2X (Vehicle to Everything Communication) technologies. This means that a vehicle will be able to communicate, in real time, with other vehicles, traffic lights and surveillance cameras to understand and respond to unexpected situations and obstacles and remain within the lane in a much shorter time.
