Fleet Management Technology: A Key to 5G Integration in Smart Vehicle

In the coming decade, truck fleets will use 5G wireless to manage routes, maintenance, and driver behavior.

FREMONT, CA: Despite the recent global slowdown in auto sales due to COVID-19, some analysts predict that using 5G wireless technology integrated into smart transportation will increase by 26 percent annually over the next decade.

Future Market Insights reported that the rapid, low-latency 5G technology has enabled and will enable automakers to provide advanced features in Advanced Drive-Assistance Systems (ADAS), such as fuel-tracking, real-time navigation, and communication, in-vehicle infotainment, speed and cruise control, and improved fleet management.

Moreover, wireless service providers are developing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications to improve road safety. ADAS and higher-level vehicle automation are anticipated to reduce the number of accidents, which result in one million deaths annually worldwide. Transportation officials in the United States attribute 90 percent of fatal traffic accidents to human error.

FMI estimates that the global value of 5G in intelligent transportation will reach $9.5 billion by the end of 2030. Most market share will come from hardware components within vehicles, namely On-Board Units that power multiple applications. Fleet management applications will be the largest sub-segment due to the sector's high demand for commercial trucks and autonomous vehicles.

As more highway regulatory agencies collaborate with vehicle manufacturers and service providers to connect devices, it is anticipated that V2X will grow at a rate of approximately 30 percent per year. FMI predicted on Monday that North America would be the leading regional market due to the proximity of U.S.-based service providers to automakers.

The FMI predicts that the COVID-19 outbreak will cause market growth fluctuations, but that long-term growth prospects will remain unchanged. Analysts note that East Asian governments imposed a national lockdown due to fears of a virus at the beginning of 2020, resulting in declining auto sales. In the U.S., sales reported by automakers dropped from 30 percent to 38 percent.

FMI reported that the first- and second-quarter decline in auto sales in East Asia began to reverse at the end of the second quarter, indicating that the market's healthy growth remains intact.

FMI reported that various 5G smart vehicle market companies continue to invest in R&D to develop real-time communications solutions and fleet management. Wi-Fi 6 will also play a role alongside 5G.

FMI called out Qualcomm’s Car-to-Cloud service powered by 5G to help smart vehicles keep cockpit and telematics systems up to date. The launch of this service in January 2020 was followed by Qualcomm's work in V2X and artificial intelligence for automobiles.

FMI noted that in early 2020, Verizon and HERE Technologies announced a partnership to collaborate on safety and navigation systems for connected vehicles.

FMI identified many notable automakers that rely on 5G for smart transportation research and development, including major European companies such as Audi AG, BMW AG, Daimler AG, and Volkswagen, as well as Deutsche Telekom AG, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm, Huawei Device Co., Vodafone Limited, Bosch GmbH, and Telefonica.