United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), the oldest university in the UAE, and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at GITEX GLOBAL to collaborate on the development and testing of 5G use cases with a specific focus on autonomous driving. This collaboration promises to accelerate development and testing of autonomous transport solutions in line with the strategic national targets set by the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) leadership.
5G is an open innovation platform that has the potential power digital transformation across economies and societies. With 5G’s efficiency, we can enable and promote innovative use-cases to drive the next generation of transport solutions. The ambition of this collaboration between UAE University and Ericsson is to work with the region’s communication service providers (CSPs) and explore how 5G can enable a safe and ubiquitous autonomous driving ecosystem in the UAE, and support smart transportation services for consumers. The collaboration will be a testbed for new technologies in the region and will contribute to the long-term societal development goals of the country.
The amount of data that will be transferred over networks for autonomous driving will significantly increase over the coming years. In order to progressively deploy new capabilities, fleet operators need the ability to frequently and securely update large parts of the onboard software. This will place significant requirements on the network and cloud infrastructure that dispatches the software updates. As the digital infrastructure matures in the smart city all vehicles can begin to communicate with each other, with the surrounding infrastructure and with pedestrians - increasing safety for all. The high-speed data transfer speeds, ultra-low latency, and increased reliability provided by 5G networks can enable a vehicle to seamlessly communicate with the cellular network, other vehicles, roadside infrastructure, and even pedestrians in real-time. 5G connectivity holds promise to strengthen the capabilities of self-driving vehicles building towards an accident-free, stress-free, and emission-free traffic ecosystem.
Prof. Ghaleb Al Hadrami Al Breiki, Acting Vice Chancellor, pointed out that "this cooperation comes in line with the UAE efforts to achieve the digital government within the fourth industrial revolution, which depends fundamentally on the digital revolution and information technology. UAEU " the University of the Future" looks forward to developing innovations that enhance and transform transportation in the country, as the university is an integrated, advanced, and smart research environment that adopts everything new that facilitates people's lives, speeds up service delivery, shortens processes and procedures, and saves time and effort."
Ericsson and UAEU’s collaboration will help realize Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy of transforming 25 per cent of the total transportation in Dubai smart and driverless by 2030. The research output will also significantly add to the UAE’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) research ecosystem. By unlocking a whole new generation of transportation use cases, 5G is set to shape the future of transportation in the country.
Wojciech Bajda, Vice President and Head of Gulf Council Countries at Ericsson Middle East and Africa says: “Since our inception, we have been harnessing technology to develop innovative solutions that benefit society. With autonomous driving promising to enable a much safer and sustainable ecosystem, it becomes necessary to address and solve some of the key challenges facing the technology today. We are confident our collaboration with UAEU will help addressing some of the challenges and opportunities around smart and autonomous transportation- not just in the UAE but also all around the world.”
Over the last few years, Ericsson has actively invested in leveraging cellular technology to enable sustainable transport systems to make safe autonomous vehicles a reality. With a portfolio of over 57,000 granted patents, and dedicated cloud and connectivity solutions for automakers and fleet owners/operators, Ericsson stays committed to research and innovation to enable a connected more sustainable future.