What is V2N?

V2N (Vehicle-to-Network) is a form of C-V2X (cellular vehicle to everything) connectivity that enables vehicles to communicate with the internet using cellular networks. Using V2N vehicles would be able to communicate with each other and other objects such as street lights, traffic signals, pedestrians etc. through the internet to achieve better traffic efficiency and to increase vehicle safety. V2N can also enable things like advanced navigation based on maps.

With the evolution of cellular technology and the introduction of 5G, V2N networks can finally become a reality. 5G Technology brings a number of features that were required to successfully run V2N networks. V2N Networks based on 5G cellular technology are called 5G V2N.

Advantages of using V2N:

Easy and cost-effective implementation: Implementing V2N is not difficult. Since V2N operates via cellular mobile networks like 5G, a large part of the physical infrastructure is readily available. Most urban areas already have 5G-capable cell towers and other areas will also eventually upgrade to 5G infrastructure. The very same technology that is used to provide internet connections for smartphones and IoT can be used for vehicles too – there is very little reason to not use a technology that is readily available. Additionally, adopting V2N is relatively cheap because it can be integrated with other forms of C-V2X in a single chipset. Therefore, automotive OEMs and infrastructure developers do not need to spend extra to enable both modes.

Smooth traffic flow: Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS) are systems that rely on real-time data sharing to make traveling on the road safe and seamless. When all cars are connected to a mobile network like 5G, it becomes easier for C-ITS to provide timely and reliable information about traffic conditions and road hazards. For example: with direct C-V2X connectivity like V2V (vehicle to vehicle), cars will only receive information on the approach of an ambulance when it approaches within a few hundred meters. This may not be a sufficient distance to ensure every vehicle gets out of the way in time, especially under heavy traffic. However, when all vehicles are connected to a mobile network like 5G, the entire traffic can prepare for emergency situations well ahead of time.

Better Route Planning: Direct C-V2X connectivity like V2I (vehicle to infrastructure) only allows a vehicle to communicate with nearby units that are within a “relevant” distance of usually 300 to 500 meters, it cannot foresee situations beyond this limit. Even though this distance is sufficient to ensure a safe and smooth experience at the current moment, it does not help interactive route planning because it is not possible to project the traffic flow on the roads far ahead. V2N can help autonomous vehicles to plan well ahead of time and choose optimized routes based not only on real-time traffic information but also based on projected future traffic from the planned routes of other vehicles.

Economies of Scale: V2N enables the collection of vehicle and traffic data into cloud servers. Having such enormous panel data is especially helpful for road infrastructure improvement. After machine learning, AI-generated predictive models can be used to calculate optimized solutions for adjusting the lengths of traffic lights based on the time of day or variating speed limits based on weather conditions. The big data also open a world of new opportunities and business models that can be integrated with the in-vehicle infotainment system, along with other possible features such as interactive parking, wireless car payment, and more.

Faster speeds: With 5G and 5G NR protocols, V2N will always be on par with the latest and fastest internet speeds available. The speed of communication is a very crucial factor in autonomous driving safety. 5G and 5G NR chipsets will also allow vehicles to communicate with smartphones in a timely manner, truly enabling V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian) communication, which would remarkably improve pedestrian safety and save millions of lives.

Advantages of using 5G over other technologies for V2N:

Latency: Latencies for 4G LTE cell networks were around 70 ms in 2014. That may seem pretty fast, but it’s not fast enough for V2X requirements. If cars are traveling in a group at 1 m distances, they’ll need kinetic data nearly instantaneously (~10 ms). 5G networks have lower latencies (less than 10 ms). Low latencies make 5G perfect for V2N.

Bandwidth: High data rates are not necessarily a requirement for V2N, but they have some interesting use cases. With high enough data rates cars will be able to transmit and receive things like live video feeds from other cars and traffic monitoring devices. 5G can achieve data rates of up to 10 Gbps, more than enough to enable advanced V2N systems.

Cost: This point applies more to using cellular technology over other technologies like ZigBee, Wi-Fi etc. Building a new network to cover most of the roads in a country would be prohibitively expensive for any technology. As 5G networks are built on existing infrastructure, they can be used without making any changes.

5G V2N networks will allow future cars to communicate with almost everything connected to the same network. This will make driving safer and faster with things like collective sensing and better navigation. With the implementation of 5G in more and more places, V2X systems can take advantage of its low latencies and high throughput to make the future of driving and road safety a reality.