AUDI AG, BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm Incorporated, announced Tuesday the formation of the “5G Automotive Association”. The association will develop, test and promote communications solutions, support standardization and accelerate commercial availability and global market penetration, the group said.

The goal is to address society’s connected mobility and road safety needs with applications such as connected automated driving, ubiquitous access to services and integration into smart cities and intelligent transportation, according to Eriscsson.

With next generation 5G mobile networks and continued strong LTE evolution, which includes Cellular Vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communication, the focus of information and communication technologies (ICT) shifts towards the Internet of Things and the digitalization of industries, said Ericsson.

5G is able to handle much more data volume, connect many more devices, significantly reduce latency and bring new levels of reliability.

5G can better support mission-critical communications for safer driving and will further support enhanced vehicle-to-everything communications and connected mobility solutions.

These new solutions bring new technological and business opportunities for both the automotive and ICT industries, and the association will address key technical and regulatory issues, leveraging next generation mobile networks and integrating vehicle platforms with connectivity, networking and computing solutions.

The association’s main activities include:

  • Defining and harmonizing use cases, technical requirements and implementation strategies.
  • Supporting standardization and regulatory bodies, certification and approval processes.
  • Addressing vehicle-to-everything technology requirements, such as wireless connectivity, security, privacy, authentication, distributed cloud architectures and more.
  • Running joint innovation and development projects leading to integrated solutions, interoperability testing, large scale pilots and trial deployments.

“Connected cars will shape the future of individual mobility, and next generation mobile networks will take car to x connectivity to a new level. The key to success is in cross-industry collaboration. This is why we set up the 5G Automotive Association where experts from all relevant fields are teaming up,” said Alfons Pfaller, Head of Infotainment Development, AUDI AG.