DoCoMo to trial 5G self-driving vehicle monitoring

Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo and mobile portal and online service provider DeNA Co have teamed up to trial a 5G communications system for remote monitoring of autonomous vehicles.

The trial will involve connecting a vehicle and a remote center via a 5G network capable of data rates beyond 10Gbps.

For the initial trial, high-resolution video images captured with HD cameras mounted on the vehicle will be transferred to the monitoring center in real time, to allow the center to check for any driving irregularities and assist passengers when needed.

The trial will be demonstrated at the DoCoMo R&D Open House 2017, which will take place at the DoCoMo R&D Center in the Yokosuka Research Park near Yokohama on November 17-18.

For the event, DeNA’s Robot Shuttle driverless bus will be used to showcase the transmission of live video from a connected vehicle via a demonstration 5G network.

The collaboration is combining DoCoMo’s 5G technologies and DeNA’s experience building services for connected vehicles. DoCoMo is closely involved in the development of LTE and 5G systems for vehicle-to-everything communications.