Overly Comments on 5G’s Potential Impact on Automotive Industry

Partner Mike Overly was quoted in an Automotive World article, “Network down: 5G performance raises new legal implications,” about the potential impact of fifth-generation (5G) technology on the automotive industry.

Overly voiced concern about the impact on vehicle communication systems from an unexpectedly high load on the 5G network. “If there are circumstances causing a heavy load on the 5G network, and this impacts the communication of AVs, will priority be given to those communications or will voice and other communications be given equal priority?” he asked. “There are concerns about situations in high-density areas or around events that cause people to flood the 5G network. The risk is that this impacts overall vehicle safety.”

Overly also suggested that accurate testing of the technology could be difficult. “As with any rollout of new technology, the 5G networks are not going to be tremendously stress-tested before they go live,” he said. “It is hard to determine just how heavy a load 5G can take when it’s also taking other things. For example, if we had a dedicated radio band with nothing but vehicle-to-vehicle, then we could predict how much traffic is going to be on that band. If we’re trying to share 5G with voice, an incident can cause a tremendous spike in how the network is being used. That’s the one wild card here.”

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