This White Paper describes valuable insights from the three EC (ICT-18*) projects 5G-MOBIX, 5G-CARMEN, and 5GCroCo on the potential of 5G technology for supporting Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) services, particularly in cross-border contexts, and also compared to 4G.

Seamless service continuity in cross-border corridor areas is feasible and can be guaranteed, and the projects trialled five different solutions involving the network side and the end-device, which were evaluated to assess the cross-border service continuity. This research has highlighted the potential for 5G technology to enhance cross-border connectivity, and the importance of prioritizing inter-PLMN handover in this context.

5G was shown to be a capable solution that can significantly improve performance compared to previous technologies, mainly 4G, especially in terms of quantitative terms like reduced latency, higher capacity and spectral efficiency, but also very importantly in other qualitative terms like, e.g., exposure of APIs like QoS prediction, which are not available in 4G. As a result, 5G can support, already today, about 80 % of connected/automated driving services (including all day-1 services) as their requirements are in line with commercially available performance.

However, within the mobility ecosystem of persons and goods, the value of 5G for CAM, although recognized, has not yet been transformed into valorized services and solutions. Service providers and (personal and professional) OEMs need to know when, what, and where 5G for CAM connectivity will be available before they can offer it. Vice-versa, MNOs need to know when, what, and where services will be available.

This requires close collaboration between telecom operators and service providers / OEMs to tailor their needs and solve technical challenges, e.g. related to configuration provisioning and service discovery. This cooperation is particularly needed to cover the period until general offerings are available and can be implemented, e.g. through joint living labs and field operational tests (FOTs).

Service coverage will increase gradually with more deployments of cross-border connectivity funded through the CEF2 Digital 5G Corridor projects. However, the actual specifics of the connectivity of these projects are left to the organizations proposing the work. In this White Paper, the ICT-18 projects share their experience and recommended approach to provide clarity to potential users of the connectivity.

Download here the White Paper

* First wave of H2020 5G PPP projects working on qualifying 5G as a core connectivity infrastructure to address advanced CAM services focusing on cross-border areas.