The German multinational Bosch is developing 6G connectivity technology to fit it into autonomous cars in the coming years. The first phases will start in closed environments, such as factories or restricted spaces.
The technology company Bosch is already working on the level of 6G connectivity for cars. This advance is being developed through the project called 6G-ICAS4Mobility, financed by public funds, which seeks to establish a closer connection between vehicles and the so-called Internet of Things or Internet of Things (IoT).
This newly expanded network will allow fully autonomous movement in environments specially built for it, such as factories or some parts of cities. Its operation will be much simpler than you might expect. The set of elements located in a specific environment, such as a street, for example, will be read through a series of sensors and radars attached to the vehicle itself. At the same time, the traffic lights and vehicles will be connected through the 6G network and will be able to communicate. In this way, a more precise digital image is created and a complete map of the environment in which they are located.
The 6G-ICAS4Mobility project aims for vehicles to send their different readings to a cloud and for everyone else to access this data individually. This will be of great help in the event of an accident, for example, since the cars involved in the collision can be avoided by the rest, which, in turn, will be able to find an alternative route so as not to congest the surroundings.
Over the next three years, Bosch will continue to develop the foundations of this technology to implement it in future electric and autonomous cars. Their goal is to do so by the end of this decade or the beginning of the next. However, to achieve this they will need not only all the vehicles that move through an environment to have this technology but also those other elements of the same space to include it.
For this reason, the company estimates that the first places where these advances can be adopted will be closed environments, such as factories, or places without access to outside traffic, such as specific neighborhoods. To achieve this, the use and exchange of data between vehicles and the environment will be crucial. This technology also contemplates the so-called “lateral link”, where one vehicle provides coverage to another in the event of a lack of network connection.
Currently, the investigation of 6G connections is leading to multimillion-dollar investments by private companies and public bodies. The Government of Germany has already allocated a total of 700 million euros until the year 2025 for this purpose. The European Union, for its part, also did the same in 2021, investing 900 million euros until 2027. Globally, other countries are also investing heavily, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China. Experts predict that 6G will start reaching users in the year 2028.
