The Australian telecoms company Telstra is including a connected vehicle in its roll-out of 5G services near its Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast.
The company’s Managing Director Networks Mike Wright says it’s using the connectivity to also power a series of Wi-Fi hotspots in the area. “We have said we intend to lead on 5G and with these 5G-enabled Wi-Fi hotspots Australian consumers will be among the first people in the world to try the technology,” he said.
“Taking 5G technology out of a lab and into the hands of consumers is another key milestone on Telstra’s roadmap to offering 5G services in 2019.”
Telstra is also using mmWave spectrum and its 5G Innovation Centre to put a Connected Car on the road with the Intel 5G Automotive Trial Platform, which it calls “one of the most advanced 5G prototype devices available in the world today”.
“Working with global technology companies Ericsson and Intel, we have put Australia’s first 5G Connected Car on the road. We are in the very early stages of development and are achieving download speeds approaching 1 Gbps inside the car and the vehicle is also equipped with a Wi-Fi access point,” Wright added.
“This shows how quickly the technology is evolving. At the start of the year our 5G prototype device was the size of a bar fridge and weighed more than 200 kilograms. Now, in collaboration with Intel and Ericsson, we have one that has been shrunk down to the size of a personal computer and can be installed in a car.”
Telstra says the Connected Car will help it start getting real results on mobile performance over mmWave and ensure 5G network readiness and that these advances are part of a series of 5G related activities that Telstra, Ericsson, Intel and other technology companies will undertake on the Gold Coast in 2018.
