What has 5G to do with Connected Cars? [Panel Key Takeaways]

In a panel that discusses the promises of 5G and IoT that happened at IoT Asia, Ong Geok Chwee, CEO of Bridge Alliance, speaks on the topic of connected cars and the role that 5G and IoT play in the automotive industry.

Geok Chwee: So today for connected cars, the first scenario that you described on emergency call, is already happening in Europe, the eCall regulation. So the cars all equipped with connectivity where if there’s a high impact, they will automatically be detected and the call centre will actually dial in. So if the driver is not answering, they know that the driver may be unconscious. And that’s where ambulance will be dispatched. So that’s happening.

But one step beyond that, the car manufacturers, beyond just gathering the telematics, they are imagining the future of entertainment system in the car. That’s also not rocket science. We can already do it using 4G. 5G will be useful because of the low latency, all that, for autonomous driving. Or even, to actually have vehicle to infrastructure communication. Or technology whereby the car itself has the intelligence to actually avoid the accident before it happens. 

So that AI portion will come in. And all these more futuristic, I think it will take a lot more years. Not because of technology, but because of infrastructure that you need, regulation.
The regulator has to figure out how do you regulate the car. Remember the accident of that autonomous driving… And the question is, whose fault it is? Is it the driver? The so-called driver that sits in the car. Or the car itself? Or the passenger? So what happens? How do you regulate it?