Autonomy may be the main future of cars, but until now, achieving a relatively unclear journey. However, at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, Samsung has demonstrated 5G capabilities - and this is an important milestone on the way to smart cars.
What is Samsung really doing?
Samsung completes the world's first 'remote control hill climb' and does so through the standard Vodafone 5G network - like the one just launched a few days ago in parts of the UK.
Car champion drifts Vaughn Gittin Jr., from a distance driving Lilncoln modified to the top of the hill using a VR set-up in the Goodwood Future lab. Samsung equipped it with a VR set-up complete with camera feed directly from the car, and racing wheels and pedals to control its movements. Meanwhile, the car is in a completely different part of the Festival.
After a successful climb, but tentatively climbing the hill, he also spends time drifting - although this is not an epic journey that you usually see Gittin Jr. doing.
Why is Goodwood?
When autonomous and connected cars get closer, it becomes clear that high-speed and failure-resistant networks will be needed to enable them to communicate with the cloud, and with each other. The same low-latency high-speed network that allows Gittin Jr.'s antics at Goodwood, will be exactly as needed to do that.
"Evidence of this concept is a big stepping stone towards remote use cases using 5G and Goodwood FOS is the perfect testing place," said Yoon Lee, senior vice president of product innovation at Samsung America. ‘We are very happy to lead the future consumer experience in 5G by pushing the boundaries of our 5G product portfolio and technology. '
Of course, there are still questions around 5G that need to be answered - especially in the context of the automotive industry. Because transmitters are the size of a microwave oven, Samsung expects the UK to be 90% 5G-capable by 2020 - but what will happen to the car that is left 10%? And what will happen if there is a patchy reception area, just as we have met with 4G networks and even existing 3G?
These are all questions that must be answered by technology giants and car companies in the years to come.
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