the 5g era has brought unprecedented opportunities for intelligent driving (or autonomous driving). In order to ensure safety, in addition to the sensor fusion of the vehicle itself, industry participants are still trying to make use of various capabilities of modern communication technology to continuously accelerate the evolution of intelligent driving technology. V2X(vehicle to everything), especially C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything), is the first technology.
however, the whole industry still needs to be broken if C-V2X is to be truly commercialized, especially if its value is realized. Xu Changqing, director of Huawei's wireless car networking market, said: "We should use the 4G car incubation application to improve the penetration rate of 5G cars, accelerate the industrial process, and start the commercial operation of car networking as soon as possible."
let's see how he interprets it.
after several years' development, the domestic C-V2X industry has accelerated and reached a certain maturity, and the standards and evaluation plans are all following up. "Three Spans" in 218, "Four Spans" in 219 and "New Four Spans" this year, there are more than 2 enterprises including suppliers, and the C-V2X industrial chain has been basically opened. Since 13 OEMs and two suppliers released the C-V2X production car plan in 219, eight OEMs have landed and one plans to mass-produce next year.
then why hasn't C-V2X really landed yet? Xu Changqing pointed out: "There are still some problems in the industry: there are many demonstration areas. Although the' three spans' and' four spans' have been opened, the reason why C-V2X is not used in a certain city scale is because people are waiting for autonomous driving that may take 1 years."
in his opinion, the value of C-V2X lies in that it can be used not only in automatic driving, but also in ADAS. C-V2X can improve driving ability and do things that automatic driving can't do. As for some dilemmas of C-V2X at present, Xu Changqing thinks that the following questions need to be seriously considered and answered:
At this stage, to realize the commercialization of C-V2X as soon as possible, "Does the delay have to be 2 milliseconds? Does positioning have to be centimeter-level? C-V2X test can achieve a delay of 2 milliseconds, but does it need 2 milliseconds? I don't think it takes 2 milliseconds, "Xu Changqing said.
why do you say that? Because the classification analysis of basic use cases shows that some use cases can achieve more coverage with Uu (operator network) interface, several services that are sensitive to delay were originally placed in RSU (roadside unit) because Uu interface does not have such a function. Now, Uu port has filled the shortcomings of V2X network coverage. With the improvement of optimized 4G network performance and the expansion of high-reliability and low-latency 5G network scale, V2X experience will gradually get better.
Uu port quickly fills the short board of V2X network coverage
In the process of 4G/5G optimization (at present, it is mainly 4G, and the capability of 5G network has not reached some requirements), LTE-V (V2X technology with independent intellectual property rights in China) can basically cover all use cases, that is to say, both the current 4G network and the future 5G network can support C-V2X.
"Then, with the support of 4G network, it is easier to expand the scale of C-V2X. If you only rely on 5G, there will be problems. For example, Suzhou deployed 5G, Kunshan did not deploy it, and the junction did not deploy it. When you get here, you will hang up. If you use 4G, the coverage of millions of base stations can be used in the Himalayas, "he said.
it is a long process to realize automatic driving. in view of the requirements of vehicle-road coordination for connection and positioning at this stage, many application problems can be solved by using C-V2X infrastructure. Xu Changqing put forward: "At this stage, all indicators need not be achieved according to the requirements of automatic driving, because C-V2X can immediately play its due role in the auxiliary driving stage."
at this stage, people are the main body responsible for driving, and vehicles with coordinated C-V2X roads can receive information from several sensors (cameras, millimeter-wave radars, etc.), which is helpful to improve driving safety and efficiency, including entertainment information of C-V2X. Information that provides value services can be charged, but charging does not mean that the sender must bear 1% responsibility.
"In the extensive window period of assisted driving, we don't need to pay special attention to the performance indicators, just look at what the widest indicators are, what use cases can be satisfied under this indicator, and what valuable applications can be hatched to open up the closed loop of business, so that this thing can really run and everyone can have a sense of gain, whether it is 2B, 2G or 2C. We should really solve the problems in production, life and work with this technology, instead of always focusing on this matter.
Huawei is discussing C-V2X networking with some operators. The first stage is the hybrid networking of 4G, 5G and RSU, the second stage is collaborative networking, the third stage is converged networking, and the last stage is to get through the terminal side.
trilogy of C-V2X networking
The terminal side is also the main engine factory. No matter what kind of C-V2X T-Box vehicle terminal is installed, the biggest problem is the penetration rate. Although there is a main engine factory now, the scale is limited and not all cars are installed. Fortunately, some OEMs are willing to roll it out on a large scale, and at least some OEMs in China have plans in this regard.
At present, the penetration rate of 4G/5G T-Box is about 5%, and the industry predicts that it will reach 7% in 223 and 9% in 225. If any competent department forces the installation of T-Box, it will become the standard of vehicles. From this point of view, it is completely possible to use Uu port T-Box to make the permeability of industrial pre-installation.
4G vehicle incubation application improves the penetration rate of 5G vehicles
what should I do after the vehicle is installed? Xu Changqing put forward: "To improve the penetration rate, we should take a multi-pronged approach. Although the user experience of the rear installation is worse than that of the front installation, the T-Box provides additional information, just like using Baidu navigation. It is free of charge, but it is very useful. Once something goes wrong, you don't have to be responsible."
as a commercial organization, everyone hopes that the number of users of the products will increase, so that everyone will have a sense of acquisition and be valuable to use. If it can't produce economic value, it can also produce social value first, especially after installation is very simple, each mobile phone is a terminal, and it is easy to popularize.
by solving the problems on the network side and the terminal side, the operators can devote more energy to break through the last killer application and the fortress of realizing value.
Uu air interface V2X car networking can lower the threshold of investment and operation
"I think C-V2X is of great value, even in the auxiliary driving stage, such as detecting roadside probes and spillage, which are very valuable things, so operators will have the opportunity to open up some business models by focusing on these valuable things," Xu Changqing said.
Lane-level positioning is a common demand for assisted driving and automatic driving. Regardless of automatic driving, only vehicle positioning is considered. Vehicle detection in different lanes and the same lane is completely different, and the decisions taken are completely different. In different lanes, if the front car brakes, the rear car generally doesn't brake, because it thinks that the front car is not in front of itself, so the decision of the car must be combined with the relationship of its position. The lowest requirement of this effective relationship is lane-level positioning. At present, there are enough research results on lane level positioning.
Almost all scenes need accurate positioning
Lane-level positioning needs reliable and accurate maps, however, in viaduct, basement and other scenes, global positioning is still missing. At present, all the solutions, such as inertial navigation, vehicle-end multi-integration and field-end positioning, are too expensive, and deploying radar in the basement at such a cost puts high demands on vehicles, which are all problems that plague the development prospect of the industry.
global reliable positioning affects many commercial scenes
Xu Changqing's point of view is that lane-level maps must be used in the assisted driving stage, and the most confusing thing for map companies is that no one pays for maps, but their technology is really comprehensive. In the open scene, there is no problem with lane-level positioning. At present, there are at least three or four service providers providing nationwide lane-level positioning in China, but there are still problems in scenes like "urban canyons". If you use a camera to assist, it is not difficult to install a camera after it.
the pain of map and positioning manufacturers is that no one buys the lane-level positioning service or integrates their business. Why? On the one hand, the industry is waiting for the main engine factory to install PC5 terminal equipment to realize the direct connection between vehicles. On the other hand, if you use Uu port to access, you will quickly increase the loading rate and let the car run first. Since the back-end products are free of charge, let everyone use them first, incubate new business from them, and find a business model, so that the industry can make money. If a large number of users subscribe to the service by some promotional means, C-V2X will be able to run.
the trinity of map, location and V2X to build a commercial environment
the last thought is how many layers should the network as the main body of operation have? Xu Changqing believes that there should be at least three layers:
three networks and three types of services of the vehicle-road cooperative operation subject
He said that Huawei hopes to make a large-scale commercial demonstration somewhere by Uu port with operators and other partners in the industry, instead of testing, because the testing has been done for several years, and the important thing is commercial implementation.
Xu Changqing finally stressed: "Without the cake of C-V2X, the manufacturers of related products can't sell anything. The key now is to grasp the big and release the small, accelerate the industrial process, and start the commercial operation of the Internet of Vehicles as soon as possible. In the final analysis, it is necessary to achieve industrial breakthroughs and promote the commercialization process. "