The German telco said LTE-V is a potential enabler for road safety and traffic efficiency apps
German telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom (DT), Chinese vendor Huawei and car makers including Audi and Toyota are currently testing LTE-Vehicular (LTE-V) in Germany.
The German telco said that technical tests are underway on this connected vehicles technology, which is seen as a potential enabler for road safety and traffic efficiency applications. The partners are conducting these trials on a section of the “digital A9 motorway test bed” near Ingolstadt, Germany.
LTE-V is a variant of the 4G LTE technology. It is being specified within the European 3GPP project that develops telecommunications standards as part of their Release 14. This variant is specifically designed to meet automotive requirements for both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. LTE-V can address multiple application types ranging from connected vehicle safety applications (collision warning, pedestrian warning, etc.) to connected vehicle smart mobility applications for increased efficiency.
Deutsche Telekom infrastructure has been specially equipped with LTE-V hardware from Huawei to support the trial scenarios. Audi, Toyota and other car manufacturers have equipped research cars with the LTE-V hardware developed by Huawei. Based on the trial results, the partners will provide input into the standards specifications for LTE-V.
Deutsche Telecom establishes NB-IoT hub
In related news, Deutsche Telekom announced that it has recently established its NB-IoT prototyping hub.
The development of NB-IoT business models and use cases is being orchestrated in Deutsche Telekom’s hub facilities in Berlin and Krakow.
Deutsche Telekom has been actively involved in the development of NB-IoT, realizing the world’s first implementation of pre- standard NB-IoT on a commercial network back in October 2015, and leading efforts within 3GPP and GSMA to promote global standardization. The 3GPP standard specifications have been completed last month.
“Our aim is to provide our customers with IoT solutions that work worldwide based on international standards,” Deutsche Telekom’s CTO Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, said. “The NB-IoT technology is a future-proof and reliable solution that supports international operations and will enable a meaningful and broad IoT ecosystem for our customers in the coming years.”
