Huawei and Fraunhofer FOKUS team up on connected vehicles

Fraunhofer FOKUS is integrating the first commercial LTE-V2X products from Huawei, which provides network technology in roadside base stations and cars, into its digital urban traffic test field in Berlin, Germany. Now drivers can be warned faster than ever about situations ahead of them, such as accidents.

Improving road safety through intelligent traffic systems is becoming increasingly necessary, given the growing number of connected cars on the roads, as vehicles head towards fully autonomous driving. LTE-Vehicle-to-anything (V2X) is the new specification for direct traffic-related communications, a technology for direct vehicle-to-vehicle as well as vehicle-to-infrastructure or vehicle-to-network communication. It is regarded internationally as a basic pre-condition for connected driving and a basis for future 5G use. The LTE (Long-Term Evolution) extension enables direct traffic-related data exchange without the need for a detour via a central back-end, such as happened with the 3G standard. Connected cars can now share information, for example, about the position or speed of an obstacle with surrounding cars, quickly and robustly.

Huawei, as a leading supplier of mobile network equipment, offers the first commercial LTE-V2X-based products for roads and vehicles. Huawei Technologies Deutschland GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS) are now planning to integrate the Huawei LTE-V2X products into the Fraunhofer FOKUS-operated Digital Test Field in Berlin.

Building on many years of work by the European standardisation organisation ETSI on the WLAN-V2X standard, the following use cases, among others, will be developed in the test field on the basis of the now commercially available LTE-V2X transmission technology:
-    Hazard warning, e.g. in front of a construction site or a broken-down vehicle
-    Electronic brake indication (emergency brake)
-    Speed recommendation from traffic light system.

The cooperation between Huawei and FOKUS consists of joint testing of LTE-V2X-based products, suitable for the digitalization of roadside traffic infrastructure.

“Connected cars are a prerequisite to future mobility, and C-V2X is the key to unlocking their potential. At Huawei, we are delighted to combine our expertise with that of our partners at Fraunhofer to jointly demonstrate specific solutions that will make tomorrow’s driving experience safer and more enjoyable,” said Antonio Graziano, Vice President of the Huawei European Public Affairs and Communication Office.

Michael Lemke, Senior Technology Principal at Huawei Germany, added: “We are happy that an additional technology – based on LTE – is now available besides the WLAN-V2X and that its potential can be demonstrated for the first time in an urban city environment using an established inner-city test field.”

Ilja Radusch, Director of the Smart Mobility business unit at Fraunhofer FOKUS, said: “Digitalization of the road infrastructure and vehicles is becoming the most important building block of traffic safety. We therefore appreciate the opportunity to be one of the first to use commercial LTE-V2X products in Germany.”

This release was first published 2 October 2018 by Huawei.