[Yonhap Photo]
South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom has made a technological leap to move ahead in the race to commercialize an ultra-fast fifth-generation (5G) network for connected cars.
SK Telecom (SKT) claimed to have successfully tested the network in a joint operation with German car giant BMW and Ericsson, a Sweden-based telecom device maker, at BMW's driving center in Yeongjongdo, an island off the western port of Incheon.
The successful test would pave the way for SKT to commercialize a 5G network for smart cars for the first time in the world.
The company said a connected car was able to send and receive data at a speed of 3.6 Gbps while running at a speed of 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour. It can evade obstacles on the road and engage in real-time communications with traffic lights and security cameras.
The connected car was made public in November last year when the test drive began after SKT and BMW agreed to cooperate in developing connected cars while working on creating a car with zero accidents. Through a 5G test network built by SKT and Ericsson, it takes one-thousandth of a second for the connected car to communicate with its server.
Smart cars which can send and receive data to provide driver-friendly features such as autonomous driving as well as optimized features like self-diagnosis, maintenance, and driver customized settings. SKT plans to set up and operate a 5G test network in urban areas before commercializing it.
South Korean firms have tested 5G networks, which are 1,000 times faster than the long-term evolution (LTE) service and allow users to download an 800-megabyte movie in one second.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
