V2X Ecosystems Are Paving the Way to Automotive Autonomy

Nearly 10 years in the making, widespread 5G adoption is unlocking new opportunities in decades- and even centuries-old industries. Notably, the automotive sector is especially poised for a radical change. While much of the buzz in the industry today is deservedly focused on electrification, ubiquitous 5G has the potential to upend the driving experience as we know it, creating smarter, safer and more connected vehicles.

From advanced navigation to infotainment systems to autonomous technology, passenger vehicles are quickly emerging as not just a mode of transportation, but as veritable data centers on wheels – estimates suggest that driverless vehicles, for example, could generate over four terabytes of data per day.

With the advent of reliable high-speed, low-latency data transmission, the industry has its sights set on a new vehicle-to-everything (V2X) landscape – one that will allow cars to talk to other cars and predict the movements of smartphone-carrying pedestrians, stop lights that will optimize for the flow of traffic and GPS systems that will sync with available parking spaces. What will underpin that ecosystem is a robust connective framework that facilitates an unprecedented volume of high-speed data transmission.

There is much work to be done before V2X becomes an everyday reality, but the opportunity for growth is significant – the connected vehicle market is expected to see a 24% CAGR between 2020 and 2025, and Gartner anticipates that by 2023, “the automotive industry will become the largest market opportunity for 5G IoT solutions.”

From my vantage point, these developments could not be more exciting. Our industry-leading and proven capabilities enabling high-speed data transmission and processing for the world’s leading cloud players, paired with our legacy of expertise in the automotive sector, uniquely position us to capture new opportunities in this connected economy.

Continued advancements in 5G, the evolution of the edge, and cloud pervasiveness are already paving the way for a connected future, and they’ll be critical to a robust V2X infrastructure. In 2019, the EU took a significant step toward establishing a V2X ecosystem built on 5G technology. In August 2020, General Motors announced plans to launch 5G-capable vehicles for Chinese consumers by 2022, and the U.S. is not far behind either region as its own 5G infrastructure continues to take shape.

While ubiquitous V2X ecosystems are still several years from implementation, this upgrade from today’s 4G LTE-enabled vehicles will allow for rapid remote updates, communication between vehicles and infrastructure, sophisticated driver-assist systems, and ultimately, complete vehicle autonomy, all of which require advanced sensing and connectivity.

Though there is justified optimism about continued innovation in smart vehicles and cloud technology, we must not lose sight of the need to seamlessly integrate the two to realize a fully operational V2X ecosystem. With expertise and advanced capabilities in both fields, TE Connectivity is the partner the industry needs.

TE’s automotive division leaders have invested significantly in anticipation of this moment. This wholly connected future represents a wave of new workloads in V2X infrastructure that will require investment in a new era of supporting technologies. These solutions must be capable of operating in harsh environments and computationally transforming, transmitting, and receiving an unprecedented volume of high-speed data, all with low latency to ensure timely and effective action in the vehicle.

At TE Connectivity, we are helping create the next generation of cloud data centers, bringing to life the intelligent edge and making 5G pervasive. As an example, at one of the major cloud providers, we are now providing six times more content in next-generation server applications compared to our contributions to the prior generation.

We are bringing this expertise to bear across the entire industry – from cloud providers and data center operators to automotive OEMs – creating the foundational framework for the truly connected ecosystem needed to realize this future. We work hand-in-hand with our customers to push the limits of technology, codeveloping a wide array of standards-based and application-optimized solutions that enable high-speed, low-latency communications while maximizing data rates and minimizing power – all without compromising signal integrity in high-volume production.

By pairing our expertise in automotive with cutting-edge capabilities in high-speed connectivity, we embrace the opportunity to establish and fortify the connective infrastructure upon which future V2X ecosystems will be built and run.

Advances in 5G and cloud computing are spurring a revolution in automotive transportation – a shift from traditional vehicles to mobile computers – and the transformation is just beginning. As V2X ecosystems become more sophisticated and capable for full-fledged advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), we will support and enable this future.

With multigenerational, battle-hardened expertise in high-speed data connectivity, as well as a legacy in automotive specifically, we have the track record, capabilities and innovative mindset needed to realize a fully connected transportation ecosystem spanning both the vehicle and its surrounding infrastructure.

If you are an investor interested in more information about TE Connectivity, please email our Investor Relations team.