UK autonomous vehicle software developer Oxbotica and American multinational tech conglomerate Cisco have partnered to demonstrate a solution that enables the secure sharing of high-volume data across connected autonomous vehicle fleets.
The Next Generation Connected Vehicles Co-Innovation trial collaboration aims for Oxbotica customers to access, customise and integrate Cisco’s mobile autonomy IP into their own products.
The platform, OpenRoaming, to be tested is designed to be fully-scalable, capable of being deployed across various fleet networks no matter the size or location, while delivering cost-effective and secure data offload.
OpenRoaming, a Cisco-initiated federation of providers utilising standards-based wireless technology, enables devices to automatically connect to Wi-Fi hotspots and networks without the need to enter usernames and passwords.
It instead uses embedded credentials issued by identity providers – in this case automotive OEMs or autonomous vehicle software companies.
Oxbotica said that OpenRoaming could be suitable for connected vehicles, with opportunities for Wi-Fi hotspots to be deployed in locations such as petrol stations, EV charging locations, parking structures and vehicle service centres.
Ozgur Tohumcu, CEO of Oxbotica, said: “As part of our Universal Autonomy vision, our pioneering software already reduces the amount of data sharing that is required, allowing vehicles to operate wherever they are, with or without network connection.
“In fact, our software has been designed to operate not dependent on any infrastructure, so it can understand the vehicle’s environment in infinite detail.
“However, we fully recognise that in an autonomous world, fleets will need to upload and download vast amounts of data and the partnership with Cisco offers us the chance to solve one of the greatest data challenges of the future, already today.”
According to Oxbotica, autonomous vehicles make 150 independent vehicle detections every second and generate up to 80GB of data per driven-hour from sensors such as lidar, cameras and radar as well as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) logs.
The company said this constant activity means amassing 1.2TB of data in a 16-hour day – the equivalent of over 500 HD movies or over 200,000 songs – much of which is reportedly gathered when the vehicle returns to base.
Furthermore, the company claims that, by 2024, over 70 million new connected vehicles will enter the market every year, with each required to upload and download 8.3GB of data per day, including streamed infotainment, HD navigation, vehicle telemetry and ADAS settings – as well as safety critical information such as severe weather updates or passenger ill health.
Across an autonomous fleet, which could include hundreds or even thousands of vehicles in a city or region, this would produce an abundance of data beyond that which could be shared efficiently and cost-effectively using existing 4G, or emerging 5G, networks.
Oxbotica started work on addressing this challenge with on-road trials taking place in Stratford, East London last September.
