MWC Barcelona\u2019s Smart Mobility Summit <\/a>this year \u2013 is very much on safety. As AT&T\u2019s Cameron Coursey pointed out, pedestrian deaths rose in the USA by an alarming 12.5% between 2020 and 2021 \u2013 road safety in the world\u2019s largest market then, as elsewhere, remains top of the agenda in smart mobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYet challenges remain in bringing the mobile and automotive industries together on technical alignment: \u201cthe two industries are working to different lifecycles,\u201d Mr Coursey explained, as the lifetimes of vehicles and cellular networks differ so greatly. It\u2019s barriers like these that have prevented the much-anticipated Level 5 autonomy from becoming a reality on connected roads \u2013 as Volvo\u2019s Head of Regulatory Affairs Serafino Abate noted, it simply hasn\u2019t been possible to get the regulatory frameworks in place to move forward at the desired pace, making L5\u2019s arrival now likely between 2027-29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MNO infrastructure is shaping the future of connected vehicles<\/strong>
Despite these complex challenges however, the mobile industry is making considerable progress in building the infrastructure required to support smart mobility on land and in the air, helping both automotive and drone sectors to grow and innovate. As Mr Coursey pointed out, 5G will be \u201cthe key to it all, as there\u2019s now a lot of direct to cellular solutions in the making that don\u2019t require any changes to devices at all.\u201d And as CTO at Wind River Systems Paul Miller noted, the advent of 5G edge compute makes far greater network horsepower available to localised applications \u2013 opening up high-margin \u201ckiller 5G use cases\u201d on the road, such as those relying on demanding visualisation, helping to ensure the commercial viability of MNO investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMeanwhile drones are now rapidly evolving past the need for operators to be physically present with BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) capability. BVLOS enables far broader commercial possibilities for drone applications; but, as deployments widen, the focus on risk mitigation must only intensify \u2013 as with autonomous road vehicles, public trust will ultimately determine the extent of the industry\u2019s growth. Mobile networks are the natural foundation on which to build these new highways in the sky, as on the road, through enhanced connectivity, real-time data exchange, and ground-and-air risk services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reliance of drones on MNO infrastructure and tailored services is therefore growing quickly. This growing role for MNOs brings with it immense commercial opportunities: in the UK alone for instance, drones will contribute \u00a345bn to national GDP by 2030, while creating 650,000 jobs, and reducing carbon emissions by 2.4m tons \u2013 and are already saving hundreds of lives per year through rescue. Such figures increasingly confirm what is to be gained once widespread trust can be earned \u2013 how then can MNOs help the industry to thrive, while securing their own role?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Engagement with ecosystem will secure MNOs\u2019 role and drive innovation<\/strong>
Much of the answer lies in identifying organisations in their markets which are demonstrably focused on safety, are applying themselves pragmatically to those challenges, and are operationally ready for the future. By working with the most promising and scrupulous regional actors now, MNOs can build the collaborative relationships they will need by the end of this decade \u2013 and learn directly from innovators on what they can do to help. This applies to both uncrewed aerial flight and those seeking a role in smart road mobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cLast year we launched the UK\u2019s first commercial drone SIM,\u201d explained Dave Pankhurst, Director of Drones at BT Group. This SIM is ruggedised for harsh atmospheric conditions, comes with dedicated QoS, and offers a wide range of capabilities allowing drone operators to demonstrate reliability to regulators. \u201cWe help them with coverage data at altitude and population density risk data, so they can prove that they\u2019re testing and acting safely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dedicated offerings beyond connectivity then, based on engagement with those who need them, are essential \u2013 but so too is support for the growing ecosystem. \u201cWe also invested in an organisation called Altitude Angel,\u201d Mr Pankhurst went on. \u201cThis is around deconfliction services in airspace as we scale up, and more drones are operating in the same areas and heights \u2013 a lot of that comes down to providing distributed infrastructure for shared use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So where could such initiatives take us in future? \u201cAlmost all critical infrastructure will soon be run by robotics,\u201d explained John McKenna, CEO of sees.ai. \u201c$100 trillion worth of assets globally \u2013 the market to fulfil this is enormous.\u201d This is where BVLOS drones come in. Removing the human need to maintain remote or dangerous environments creates a need for growing fleets of autonomous inspection drones which rely on centralised command-and-control systems. The future sees.ai are preparing for is something like BVLOS 2.0 \u2013 a \u2018system of systems\u2019 which ties together the various complex platforms, data streams and safety considerations involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This translates into a platform capable of pulling historical data from every millisecond of flight which can be assessed using advanced analytics and simulation tools. \u201cIt\u2019s a single layer of software that spans from onboarding supervisors and drones, to enabling autonomy,\u201d Mr McKenna explained, \u201cenabling long-term system improvements and ensuring regulators have streams of data not only for proofs and permissions, but also trust, as they\u2019re deeply involved in the loop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interoperability is vital for scale \u2013 for which collaboration is key<\/strong>
Interoperability is of course essential to scalability here. As the ecosystem grows, so too does heterogeneity between stakeholders \u2013 making open APIs crucial to reliable collaboration. This is where MNOs like Telef\u00f3nica are turning their attention, with projects like Open Gateway \u2013 helping to enable dynamic density maps for aerospace connectivity, and use network data rather than GPS for positioning. \u201cWe\u2019ve created a software stack shared by almost all telcos,\u201d explained Head of UAS & Drone APIs Pedro De Alarc\u00f3n. \u201c70% of mobile traffic worldwide can now turn through our drone APIs.\u201d Cooperation on APIs is made possible through initiatives like Camara, where Telefonica and others work on standardising APIs \u2013 any actor can join, not just MNOs, in an example of vital ecosystem collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s efforts like these that make shared aspiration translate into collective action. An equivalent for work in connected roads is the Software Republic, which VP Mobile Connectivity at Thales explained is designed to help MNOs, automakers and startups \u201cachieve the mobility revolution together through sharing of complementary knowledge and capabilities, for faster innovation and shorter time-to-market.\u201d It was created to address mobility ecosystem challenges around sustainability and cybersecurity, and in just two years eight projects are now in mass production, most recently an electric vehicle charging station that is intelligently bidirectional between car and home, and an innovative solution for vehicular biometric access management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenges to growth in connected road and air travel differ of course in many particulars, but the unifying themes are clear \u2013 safety is paramount for pedestrians, drivers, and those below drone flight paths. And, especially in the case of connected road vehicles, protections must be convincing when it comes to user data if widespread acceptance is to be achieved. MNOs must act now to build the relationships they need to shape these industries in such a way that ensures not only the mobile industry\u2019s place in them, but their very future \u2013 and we heard much at this year\u2019s Smart Mobility Summit to assure us that this work is well on the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Smart mobility is now very much a reality on the mass market: cars are already far more than vehicles, connecting various aspects of a driver\u2019s life from work to entertainment, while delivering the data needed for road safety and traffic management analytics. Meanwhile the role of uncrewed aircraft has been transformed from a hobbyist\u2019s pursuit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":45337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,70],"tags":[275,277,76,279,77,78],"algolia_discover_type":[316],"class_list":["post-45336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-automotive-news","category-news","tag-5g","tag-automotive","tag-aviation","tag-connectivity","tag-drones","tag-smart-mobility","algolia_discover_type-article"],"yoast_head":"\n
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