Skip to main content

German test centre invests in 5G technology for autonomous vehicle testing

The German division of UK telecommunications firm Vodafone is equipping the Aldenhoven Testing Center (ATC) test track in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with the latest 5G network technology to enable the ATC to test autonomous vehicle concepts such as autonomous braking. ATC says the technology will transfer data volumes of up to ten gigabits per second with latencies of less than ten milliseconds as LTE successors.
September 4, 2017 Read time: 1 min

The German division of UK telecommunications firm 813 Vodafone is equipping the Aldenhoven Testing Center (ATC) test track in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with the latest 5G network technology to enable the ATC to test autonomous vehicle concepts such as autonomous braking.

ATC says the technology will transfer data volumes of up to ten gigabits per second with latencies of less than ten milliseconds as LTE successors. This is the technological basis for communicating cars with pedestrians and the entire traffic infrastructure, such as traffic lights. The ATC is also home to GALILEO test environment for the future European navigation system.

According to Prime Minister Armin Laschet, Digitization is a priority for the state government and it plans to invest US$8 billion (€7 billion) for digital change and develop a 5G strategy together with business and science.

Related Content

  • September 4, 2019
    Vodafone and IBM to provide new tech to National Express
    Tech giants Vodafone and IBM have signed an eight-year deal to equip National Express coaches with cloud and digital services to improve safety. Vodafone Business and IBM joined forces in January to offer customers access to technologies for integrating multiple clouds. Debbie O’Shea, group chief information officer for National Express, says: “This partnership enables us to move to a cloud environment giving us a future-proofed platform with increased flexibility that will better support our business.”
  • December 8, 2016
    Data handling important for autonomous vehicles
    Data handling is becoming an ever-greater part of transportation and never more so than with autonomous vehicles, as Andrew Bardin Williams hears from some big names.
  • May 15, 2015
    First Swiss AV takes to the roads
    Switzerland is testing its first autonomous vehicle (AV) on the streets of Zurich. Developed in cooperation with Swiss telecommunications group Swisscom, the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK) and Germany’s Autonomos Labs, the heavily modified VW Passat has been equipped with sensors, computers and software. The computer system drives, steers and brakes the vehicle autonomously and detects other vehicles and pedestrians by means of laser scanners, radar and vid
  • February 3, 2012
    Germany's approach to adaptive traffic control
    Jürgen Mück, Siemens AG, describes the three-level approach taken in Germany to adaptive network control