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Operator tests connected car tech in U.K., plans trials in Germany.
Vodafone on Monday revealed it is testing out LTE-vehicle-to-everything (V2X), a technology that enables cars to communicate with their surroundings in order to improve safety and efficiency.
Modern cars are equipped with an increasing number of sensors and safety features, such as automatic breaking, lane-tracking and blind-spot warning.
Vodafone is among those that wants to take it a step further by enabling cars to communicate with one another and the surrounding infrastructure, making them part of an intelligent transportation system (ITS).
"With this system, vehicles will be able to become much more aware of both their immediate and surrounding environment. For example, a car which is part of the ITS will be able to tell other cars of its intention to change lane or to signal an emergency stop. The vehicle could also be told the optimal speed to drive in order to avoid traffic congestion," said David Lister, 5G research manager, and Bob Banks, R&D programme manager, at Vodafone, in a blog post.
Vodafone believes that LTE-V2X can underpin upcoming safety features like these.
Lister and Banks said they have already completed initial testing on a private track in the U.K., and further trials are planned in Germany.
"Achieving communication between vehicles and infrastructure is an important step that will lead to full automation of cars after 2020," they said.
