In a move to spur the application of 5G technologies in the automotive industry, information and communications technology (ICT) provider Huawei has formed an alliance with 18 carmakers to develop what the company calls a “5G-enabled automotive ecosphere”.
The first batch of 18 carmakers, all based in China, include the state-owned “big-four” – First Automobile Group, Chang’an Automobile, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, and SAIC Motor Corporation; Guangzhou Automobile Group, BYD Auto, Great Wall Motors, Chery Holdings, and JAC Motors.
The advancement of 5G technology can be hugely beneficial to the automotive industry, especially in the application of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) and self-driving technologies, due to its advantages in transmission speed, reliability, and low latency.
The new alliance aims to accelerate the adoption of 5G in the Asia Pacific region, which is set to become the leading region for 5G technology adoption, accounting for than 65% of global subscriptions by 2024 according to GlobalData.
This announcement comes approximately one year after the launch of the company’s first 5G communications hardware in April last year. Since then, Huawei has been providing products and technologies to their “ecosystem partners” to support the development of 5G technology in vehicles.
As reported by South China Morning Post, a car built with Huawei’s 5G communications module, the Baojun RC-6, has already been in sale in China since December last year.
Globally, Huawei has also been actively advocating for the adoption of 5G technology in vehicles. The Chinese ICT provider is one of the eight founding members of the 5G Automotive Association – alongside Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ericsson, Intel, Nokia, and Qualcomm.
In recent years, automotive industry players have been utilising 5G technologies in various innovative ways, including tyre manufacturer Pirelli in their 5G-connected Cyber Tyre.
