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The number of connected vehicles on the roads in Europe, the United States, and China alone will exceed 470 million by 2025 (source: PwC). V2X will enable vehicles to communicate directly with one another as well as with traffic signals, road construction sites, pedestrian crossings, and buildings. Thus, vehicles will be able to alert one another to potential hazards, including traffic jams, accidents, and bad road conditions. Vehicles will also be alerted of traffic signal changes, thus allowing drivers to adjust their speeds and make for smoother traffic flow.

The increasing number of connected devices in today’s vehicles has spawned an all-too-common dilemma: how to get all these devices to communicate with one another. A universal connectivity unit that can communicate using many of the transmissions standards implemented in connected automobiles is under development.

Automotive products supplier Bosch has been collaborating with Veniam in order to make V2X communications a reality. They will develop software that continuously searches for the

best transmission technology that suits the particular requirements, and switches automatically between the available alternatives, according to ecnmag.com.

The software maintains continuous and seamless vehicle connectivity. Cars can then use the WiFi networks available in cities, while elsewhere they can communicate using, for instance, cellular networks.

According to Bosch, the universal connectivity unit will allow vehicles to communicate with one another as well as with their surroundings, regardless of the vehicle make or the country in which they are used.

Veniam’s software also closely monitors the costs and data transmission latency of each alternative connection option, since not every technology is suitable in every situation. The connectivity unit is part of Bosch’s efforts to make V2X communications viable. Bosch and other companies have been performing trials of V2X communication with the first 5G test modules―the first companies in Europe to do so. The A9 freeway in Bavaria north of Munich is the location for the field tests, which focus on real-time warning systems during lane changing maneuvers on the freeway.