Teamwork seems to be a valuable concept for autonomous vehicles, as well – connected self-driving cars can respond to road and traffic conditions much better, compared to relying only on their sensors. Bosch has recently participated in trials that confirmed the benefits of various communication technologies, for secure vehicle-to-vehicle data transmission.
An innovative European project, named CONCORDA, has been researching vehicle-to-vehicle communication security, over the past three and half years. Led by Ertico – ITS Europe, a public/private partnership that’s developing intelligent transport systems, the project brought together big names, such as Bosch, Nokia, Telekom, Escrypt, and Kapsch.
The most recent tests focused on how to enable fast and stable data communication between connected vehicles, at all times, even when they’re driving through tunnels, for example. The tests involved trucks driving in convoys on certain sections of public highways, and three types of communication technology.
One was direct Wi-Fi-based communication (ITS-G5), the second was cellular-based direct communication (LTE-V2X PC5), and the third was indirect communication over the mobile network (LTE). For the third method, the autonomous truck’s signals, sent through an LTE network, “were first routed to server in the edge cloud of the mobile network,” and then forwarded to the other trucks.
The tests showed that the two direct means of communication work best within a radius of 1,640 feet (500 meters) at most, which could help driving assistance systems to be ready for quick responses, like emergency braking. On the other hand, the indirect communication channel helps to send secure data within a wider radius, of almost two miles (3,000 meters).
According to Bosch, most new trucks are already equipped with an LTE unit, so they would only need to add the direct communication channels. The joint operation of all types of communication channels can ensure secure, continuous data transmission.
Successful vehicle-to-vehicle communication will be used as a starting point for developing even more advanced automated driving features.
