Laird Technologies has become the newest global member of the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA). The company now along with other blue chip members of the Association aims to help develop mobile communications standards for connected vehicles. The 5GAA includes leading telecommunications firms, automotive companies and components suppliers like AUDI AG, BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm, AT&T, and others.
As the successor to the LTE mobile phone standard, 5G is one of the key factors for automotive services and integration in SmartCities and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), which connect vehicles, networked infrastructure, and other "things" to the Internet to provide a wide range of data and services for consumers, traffic management systems, first responders, and others.
According to industry experts, there will be 250 million connected cars and trucks on the road worldwide by 2020, and by 2025, all new vehicles will be connected to the Internet of Things (IoT).
The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), was launched towards the end of 2016, with the aim of addressing society's connected mobility and road safety needs with applications such as connected automated driving, and ubiquitous access to services.
Laird is a leading provider of telematics systems and sophisticated antennas to the U.S. and German auto manufacturers, as well as many in Asia. It is currently the only Tier 1 supplier that combines experience in antenna design with the development of vehicle-communication devices. With 5G integration, it is expected that vehicles will in the future be able to use machine-type communication (MTC) to interact with other smart devices. Vehicles will communicate not only with each other, but also with roadside infrastructure and traffic systems to increase road safety and pave the way for autonomous driving.
