Smarter Cities and Safer Self-Driving Cars: Imagining Life in 5G

Today it takes about four minutes to download a movie on a 4G LTE network. With 5G, that same film could be on your tablet or phone in as little as six seconds. At those speeds—and with help from connected headsets—theme-park visitors could stream high-definition, virtual-reality experiences while on a speeding roller coaster.

Self-Driving in Harmony

For self-driving cars to safely navigate the streets, they need to be able to communicate—with one another, with traffic signals and with passengers. Cars equipped with 5G-powered mapping will be able to see and react to their surroundings instantaneously. This will let vehicles alert their fellow vehicles to accidents ahead, preventing pileups. An ambulance racing down a busy highway could signal for nearby cars to pull over long before a human driver could react to its siren.

Smarter, Safer Cities

By combining cloud technology with real-time video and analytics, cities will be able to better manage everything from electrical grids to traffic patterns. In our water mains, 5G-connected sensors could detect and fix leaks long before a break occurs. Intelligent streetlights could direct cars to empty parking spaces. And cities will be able to better track and reduce energy usage, improving air quality and reducing pollution.

A Call for Resources

5G relies on wireless spectrum, or airwaves, for its speed and power. Governments manage spectrum allocation, and there simply aren’t enough high-powered spectrum allocations to bring 5G everywhere it can and should be. Without the necessary bandwidth, we’ll be bottlenecking game-changing speed and capping its potential. Governments need to allocate sufficient spectrum as soon as possible, so that industry can begin new network deployment and make universal 5G-powered services a reality.