NGMN calls on EC to rethink connected car technology

An organisation representing telecoms network operators has warned European lawmakers that their vision for the development of cooperative ITS (C-ITS) risks being too narrow. In a letter to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the board of the NGMN Alliance highlights a key piece of EC legislation which will determine the technologies used for connected vehicles – and urges the inclusion of cellular-V2X (C-V2X) on the list. “Despite the EC’s stated commitment to technology neutrality, we
December 12, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
An organisation representing telecoms network operators has warned European lawmakers that their vision for the development of cooperative ITS (C-ITS) risks being too narrow.


In a letter to 1690 European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the board of the NGMN Alliance highlights a key piece of EC legislation which will determine the technologies used for connected vehicles – and urges the inclusion of cellular-V2X (C-V2X) on the list.

“Despite the EC’s stated commitment to technology neutrality, we are very concerned about the progressing Delegated Act,” the NGMN letter says.

“At the current time, it rules out the most recent technology, C-V2X, favouring a specific and single-purpose Wi-Fi based technology path, ITS-G5, which has no relationship to 5G technology and no evolutionary path towards compatibility with future 5G based C-ITS systems generations.”

This will preclude “the evolution to 5G for connected cars”, it warns. “Limiting C-ITS deployment to ITS-G5 would imperil the European Union automotive industry’s ability to compete in today’s global and evolving technological marketplace. This places Europe at a technical and economic disadvantage compared with other regions of the world including China and the US, where C-V2X is emerging as a strong technology candidate for C-ITS.”

The NGMN board says that Delegated Act adoption “should not be rushed” and adds that C-V2X is not only able to enhance safety features for vehicles, but also supports use cases for vulnerable road users such as cyclists.

“NGMN has investigated and concluded that C-V2X technology is superior to 6781 IEEE 802.11p standards, technically, economically, and eco-system wise, and can well satisfy the basic safety applications,” the letter goes on.

The board believes its favoured technology has a better communication range, latency and scalability and “has a natural evolution path to future advanced applications by updating current networks to 5G”.

Related Content

  • August 19, 2015
    Vehicular networking architecture for local road weather services
    The Finnish Meteorological Institute is currently testing two-way delivery of local weather data as Timo Sukuvaara explains. Road weather information is one of the key ways in which ITS can help reduce traffic accidents and fatalities – which is why the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has long provided road weather services. Now, the CoMoSeF (Cooperative Mobility Services of the Future) project has been developing communication methodologies to deliver road weather services directly to vehicles and g
    Read More
  • March 14, 2018
    MEPS call for timetable with targets to accelerate C-ITS
    MEPs are urging the European Commission (EC) to present a timetable with clear targets for what the European Union needs to achieve between 2019 and 2029 to speed up the deployment of connected intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) technologies. The resolution has been approved with 633 votes in favour, 43 against and 11 abstentions. In addition, they added that C-ITS services that have the highest safety potential should be a priority. István Ujhelyi, rapporteur, said: “Automation is knocking at the door
    Read More
  • May 2, 2018
    V2X: The design challenges
    The connected future throws up a number of enticing possibilities for us all. But, says Houman Zarrinkoub of MathWorks, issues around visualisation, prototyping and model evolution need to be examined carefully. We are all aware of the huge amount of investment going into driverless car technologies. With the likes of Volvo, Tesla and BMW getting in on the act, soon they will be a common sight on our roads. However, for this to occur, the vehicles must be able to connect with each other and ensure driver
    Read More
  • May 25, 2017
    Automotive OEMs ‘prefer a hybrid approach to power C-ITS’
    The growing demand for road safety and efficient mobility is driving the adoption of cooperative intelligent transportation solutions (C-ITS) and a key enabler of C-ITS is Vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication, says Frost & Sullivan. It supports the exchange of information between vehicles, infrastructure and other road users, such as pedestrians. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is enabled using 802.11p (DSRC or ITS-G5) or cellular technology. 802.11p is a proven technology; however, it is not future proo
    Read More

Highlighted Content