Audi to Test Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything Technology at 5G Lab
Audi is planning a test of cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology at the Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners, a 5G-enabled intelligent mobility and smart city living laboratory near Atlanta.
C-V2X enables vehicles to communicate with a variety of entities, including city-owned streets, traffic signals, crosswalk signals and vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as bicyclists. The goal is to enhance traffic safety and efficiency.
Audi recently received a wavier to deploy the technology from the FCC. The initiative with Curiosity Lab is an effort to “fine-tune strategies” to expand C-V2X connectivity.
Audi has been involved in C-V2X deployments aimed at increasing the safety of workers as vehicles approach construction zones and connecting cars to school buses to alert drivers of active school zones.
Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything Technology
One of the C-V2X technology developers that Audi worked with previously – a company known as Spoke – will also be involved in the Curiosity Lab deployment. Spoke technology was used in a recent U.S. Pro Cycling Criterium event. The event featured Audi vehicles.
“We are honored to have been selected by Audi to define how automakers and cities can together unlock the future in the world’s most unique smart city environment, which includes the first-ever full C-V2X system to be implemented by a U.S. city,” Johnson said in a press release.
“Our first official global vehicle manufacturer collaboration will be able to leverage our ‘city street of the future,’ which brings together the C-V2X vision in an unprecedented manner. This includes a top developer like Spoke, which is addressing the vulnerable road user part of the equation to make it safer for users such as cyclists.”
Peachtree Corners is a smart city that has more than 45,000 residents and, according to the press release, just as many jobs. Curiosity Lab is owned and operated by the city.