Autonomous Cars, 5G Mobile Networks and Smart Cities: Beyond the Hype

This paper proposes one more slice of the next-generation self-driving automobile. It introduces an innovative and smart architecture that enables collaborative interactions between the autonomous cars and the urban devices available in the city. The aim of this architecture is to achieve the smart city vision where the different involved entities - such as cars, homes, citizens - exchange useful information and collaborate to reach common goals like decrease the traffic congestion. The proposed architecture sits at edges of 5G mobile telecommunication network and relies on 5G key enablers such as multi-access edge computing. A realistic use case that illustrates information exchange between an autonomous car and neighboring devices during a trip is provided. As for validation, a prototype implementing the use case was developed and evaluated. The lessons learned from the performed experiments are discussed.