Skip to main content

New German cross-industry project to develop 5G vehicle applications

A new consortium, initiated by Ericsson in Germany, aims to create an infrastructure and real application environment on a motorway test track, to carry out tests in vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, digitisation of the railway infrastructure and other applications using 5G technology. The 30 kilometre test track consists of several construction sections on the 30 kilometre ‘digital test field motorway’ along the A9 motorway and the high speed rail track between Nuremberg and Greding. The in
November 22, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A new consortium, initiated by 5650 Ericsson in Germany, aims to create an infrastructure and real application environment on a motorway test track, to carry out tests in vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, digitisation of the railway infrastructure and other applications using 5G technology.

The 30 kilometre test track consists of several construction sections on the 30 kilometre ‘digital test field motorway’ along the A9 motorway and the high speed rail track between Nuremberg and Greding. The infrastructure is already completed in the first partial sections, meaning that live tests can begin immediately.

The project operates within an independent infrastructure and is not dependent on any commercial network, meaning that 5G prototype applications can be installed and tested regularly, in various network configurations, at any time, without restrictions. The dedicated Ericsson 5G mobile network allows live tests of real time applications, even under extreme network loads, and at very high travel speeds. Test conditions, which are hardly ever found in commercially operated live networks, can be created.

Ericsson has received permission from the German Federal Regulatory Agency to use frequencies from the 700-MHz band and will act as a network operator.

Members of the 5G Connected Mobility consortium include Ericsson, BMW Group, Deutsche Bahn, all three German mobile network operators -Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica Deutschland and Vodafone, the TU Dresden 5G Lab Germany, the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) and the Federal Regulatory Agency (BNetzA). The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and the Bavarian Road Construction Administration support the project.

The project aims to pool the knowledge, perspectives and recommendations gained from this partnership and further develop them with the focus on integration into international 5G standardisation activities.

Within the scope of 5G-ConnectedMobility, the consortium plans to develop use cases of associated vehicle applications, for vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, new methods of traffic information provision in real time and cross-manufacturer traffic control for automated vehicles.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Seoul sensors aid autonomous mobility
    January 18, 2022
    Seoul Robotics' LV5 CTRL TWR product can automate vehicles from around corners
  • Real time active traffic management improves travel times
    July 17, 2012
    Traffic management centres (TMC) have traditionally served to provide surveillance and responses to traffic incidents and recurring and non-recurring changes in road networks. Typically, a TMC collected field data from the roadway and transit infrastructure and provided the integration necessary for operators to see what was happening and then coordinate a response. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) guided operators on how to respond to a given situation. It eventually became impractical for TMC operat
  • Asecap Days 2025: seizing the opportunities
    May 28, 2025
    Delegates during day one of the two-day 52nd Asecap Days conference in Madrid were left in no doubt the financial challenges that face motorway concessionaires as the transition to different mobility increases in pace...
  • Bringing V2I and V2V communications to workzone safety
    January 26, 2012
    Imran Hayee of the University of Minnesota Duluth's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering talks about efforts to bring V2I and V2V communications into work zones. With USDOT backing and under the auspices of the ITS Joint Program Office Connected Vehicle Research (formerly IntelliDrive) research programme, M. Imran Hayee of the University of Minnesota Duluth's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering along with team of his students, have been conducting research into the application of