The 5G TALKS - Episode 2: meet FORD OTOSAN

  • Who’s FORD OTOSAN? Meet the company

Ford Otosan (Ford Otomotiv Sanayi A.Ş.), is a publicly traded company, where Ford Motor Company and Koç Holding A.Ş. have equal shares. Ford Otosan, being one of the top 3 exporting companies of Turkey since 2004, has achieved 9 consecutive years automotive industry championship and is Turkey’s export champion for 5 years in a row. The leadership also continued in 2019 by the export of vehicles and spare parts to 96 countries in 5 continents. Ford Otosan, operating in 3 main centers, employs almost 11,000 people.

  • FORD in 5G MOBIX: what is your role?

We are leading Platooning Application development, assisting See-What-I-See Application and Truck Routing Application developments. Additionally, we provide test trucks and our test track for Greece – Turkey Cross Border Corridor and we are Task Leader of Task 6.2 - Foster adoption of new business models for 5G & CCAM.

  • What are the business related gaps for 5G-CCAM?

We believe that 5G-CCAM will bring new business models to the market. The main gap is the revenue stream: who will pay for what, how we will share the data payment burden for 5G-CCAM services etc. On the other hand, we need to find a way to encourage other stakeholders to look into 5G-CCAM service deployment.

  • What are CCAM development challenges in the automotive sector?

The lack of CCAM regulations represents a challenge for automotive OEMs. As an OEM, you need to know your limits, how to design a CCAM feature etc. Especially for those features that trust connectivity like 5G, it is important have a common sense of development on the market, in order for all vehicles to be able to "speak the same language" on the road.

Cybersecurity is also crucial to prevent unauthorized access to vehicle controllers and communication units. We need to ensure that vehicles are safe, before delivering them to our customers, and this is an essential aspect.

  • What is Platooning with See-What-I-See Application and what are its benefits?

Vehicle platooning is a method to efficiently drive several vehicles together, enabled by autonomous driving technologies. In a platoon, vehicles are autonomously driven, forming a convoy and moving much closer together than what would be possible if driven by human drivers, like carriages in a train. The reduced distance between vehicles results in greater fuel efficiency and reduced use of road space. To achieve this, vehicles on a platoon continuously share information between them regarding location, speed, heading and their intentions such as breaking, acceleration, etc. In 5G-MOBIX, we will add the See-What-I-See Application, which allows you to see a continuous stream from a camera positioned on the leader’s windshield and pointed forward. Thus, you can have a continuous vision of the road ahead of the leader. This will bring safer and less stressful trip to drivers.