Successful C-V2X Development Relies on Selecting the Correct Components

Cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) is a technical concept that provides the robust connectivity that connects vehicles with everything from other vehicles to smart city, lighting and transport infrastructure over a cellular network, writes Marcus Schulze, Automotive Product Manager EMEA, Quectel Wireless Solutions. As it matures, auto OEMs are embedding C-V2X into their vehicles and advancing down the road to a fully featured connectivity infrastructure for vehicles.

The momentum behind C-V2X is growing. Industry research has predicted that one-in-two cars will have 5G connectivity by 2027 in spite of supply chain disruption and a lot of the growth comes from the substantial uptake of electric cars and adoption of digital features, including ADAS. The industry research reports that sales penetration of connected cars surpassed non-connected cars for the first time in the first half of 2022, moving on from only being present in luxury models to also being in cars from Volkswagen, Toyota and Stellantis, to name just a few. 

In fact, C-V2X technology is set to be used by all types of road users delivering improvements in environmental impact, safety, traffic flow and, ultimately, enablement of autonomous vehicles. In C-V2X scenarios the cellular technologies used will be 5G and LTE because these technologies best fit the needs of all the disparate use cases at the same time as being global standards that are supported by a mature and large-scale developer ecosystem.

Why Cellular?

Further reasons for 5G and LTE adoption include these technologies’ capabilities to deliver the connectivity foundation that C-V2X use cases will be built upon. Enablement of connections between moving vehicles involves significant closing speeds – think of 50mph doubled as a routine requirement – and therefore 5G’s ability to support sub-20 ms latency while allowing for massive numbers of devices to connect per cell is compelling. 

However, 5G is not fully deployed to date and lower-density population areas are likely to need to wait several years for ubiquitous coverage to arrive. Given the current state of development of C-V2X, this is unlikely to be a significant barrier because time is needed to develop both C-V2X infrastructure, the use cases and the in-vehicle hardware and systems. The lifecycle of vehicles also means the fleet will take years to update organically so there is a relatively wide window of opportunity in which 5G coverage can be strengthened while more 5G-enabled vehicles are designed and brought to market and 5G use cases mature.

Alternatives such as dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), which is based on Wi-Fi technology, can’t match the latency and long range that cellular technologies offer and also will face challenges in putting place the coverage that C-V2X needs to work well and be relied upon for mission-critical activities. Cellular networks are deployed globally, offer low latency, high performance and strong security and this makes them attractive for service providers, vehicle makers and transport, city and road infrastructure providers.

Developing to Support C-V2X

C-V2X relies on a series of essential components to function which include on-board units, roadside units, cellular and core networks and application servers. Within each of these are further layers of components that need to be carefully considered at the design stage in order to ensure devices will be able to perform strongly enough to meet the needs of the situations they are deployed to enable.

Vehicle makers naturally are focused on the on-board units they install into their products. They’re looking to future-proof their offerings by selecting technologies with long lifespans while ensuring their OBUs do not disrupt other vehicle systems. The specific characteristics of each type of vehicle participating in C-V2X activities needs to be considered.

For example, an electric scooter may need to carefully manage power consumption which would not be a consideration in larger vehicles that are able to recharge as they drive and therefore scooter developers need to locate modules and antennas in places where the signal is not obscured so that they don’t waste power. In contrast, car makers need to ensure C-V2X components do not cause interference with other systems, are not located in areas of very high temperature or are susceptible to damage from dust, moisture or stones.

OBUs need to be highly robust while also comprising a comprehensive range of features and capabilities. An OBU should be able to collect data from a wide array of in-vehicle sensors, enabling it to collect data on speed, position and direction and derive useful information for C-V2X applications from that. These data should be processed, ideally within the OBU, and transmitted to other devices including roadside units, other vehicles, infrastructure and networks. Some processing will be done in the cloud, but the constraints of high-speed mobility mean this is often not desirable or practical because of latency challenges.

Safety Demands Security

C-V2X systems are mission critical and therefore security is an essential design criterion. Connected vehicles exchange highly sensitive information and also rely on receiving accurate data in order to enable decisions to be made. Cellular network security is already strong but further security needs to be layered on top with the addition of identity mechanisms such as public key infrastructure (PKI) and other cryptographic techniques to secure data and authenticate each element that communicates in the C-V2X business chain.

Data must be kept confidential and compliant with regulations to prevent fraudulent activities by bad actors and also to preserve the anonymity of users and to protect their privacy. In addition, it is desirable to select technologies that are standardized so they can connect seamlessly between different components and systems and data can be exchanged easily. Ideally, interoperable technologies should be selected to assure this interchange.

In-vehicle C-V2X Considerations

Auto makers themselves are adding C-V2X to their vehicles, sometimes through their own development efforts, allied to collaborations with suppliers for systems on chips (SoCs) such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon and to module vendors, such as Quectel, which can provide modules optimized for C-V2X use cases, or with partners such as Bosch or Denso who provide in-vehicle C-V2X units to be added to vehicles.

One of the most significant challenges facing automotive OEMs is what their role in the C-V2X ecosystem will be. There’s an obvious cost associated with C-V2X infrastructure both in the vehicles and at the roadside and the immaturity of the sector means the question of who pays for C-V2X has not been resolved. It is, however, clear that the automotive OEMs are best placed to provide and integrate OBUs and there is a value proposition for them doing so. 

Automotive OEMs will benefit by being able to provide their customers with C-V2X functionality which helps them comply with legislation, such as eCall initiatives in various markets, but also brings an opportunity to upsell and cross-sell services. Today, that opportunity is limited but as C-V2X matures, use cases that increase the value of vehicles, such as assisted driving will become richer and more widely adopted.

The Road Ahead

With a groundswell of OEMs adopting 5G for their vehicles and continued advances in smart cities, C-V2X is entering the mainstream and applications in driver assistance, traffic management and in-car entertainment are becoming more numerous. This has led to introduction of modules that have been specifically developed to support C-V2X applications which integrate efficiently with other components and support adjacent capabilities. 

Modules such as the Quectel AG18 have been developed to include options such as L1 and L5 dual frequency GNSS and high precision positioning and location technologies which enable OEMs to access location technology that meets their application requirements. Quectel also offers the AG215S and AG52xR series of C-V2X and LTE-A modules as well as the AG55xQ and AG59x series of 5G and C-V2X modules so customers can select the module that best fits their future plans and use cases.

The AG55xQ offers data rates of 2.4Gbps downlink and 550Mbps uplink while the AG59x series, which is available for global markets, offers up to 4.4Gbps downlink and 900Mbps uplink. All Quectel modules can be supplied with antennas to help optimize performance and further simplify device design.

Adoption of suppliers with strong specialisms in automotive modules is essential to ensure automotive connectivity is enabled. Automotive connectivity modules need to gain certifications and pass wide-ranging quality and compliance tests in markets they are deployed into. Therefore, selecting a supplier that understands the parallel constraints of automotive compliance alongside communications network operators’ and regulators’ own certification requirements is vital for smooth device development and for rapid time-to-market.

A supplier that understands the challenges that in-vehicle environments represent from a design perspective is best-placed to guide and support development of devices and OBUs that can handle the physical limitations of in-vehicle deployments alongside the challenges of security, compliance and low latency. An obvious step is to select a supplier that has a wide portfolio of modules, has the experience of gaining global certifications and already works with the world’s largest car makers as the industry makes C-V2X functionality ubiquitous.