Software Networks, 2nd Edition

13Vehicular Networks

The environment of vehicular networks is developing very fast. Their application to real life is getting closer and will become a reality; autonomous vehicles will need to interconnect in order to speak to each other and make joint decisions. Three types of vehicular networks will overlap: the control network allowing driving automation, the data network for passengers knowing that the driver will himself become a passenger, and finally, the manufacturers’ network – the goal of which is to follow the vehicle’s lifecycle, perform maintenance and repairs, sometimes while driving, sometimes after a fault diagnosis.

As the market is very large, there is much debate on the choice of the components of these vehicular networks. Many solutions are being developed; sometimes, they supplement one another, sometimes they are competitive. Overall, we can say that three solutions compete for the vehicle interconnection part. The first solution is the use of networks which would directly connect vehicles, without going through a large antenna. This solution is shown in Figure 13.1.

Figure 13.1. Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication – V2V. For a color version of the figure, see www.iste.co.uk/pujolle/software2.zip

The second solution comes from 5G mission critical property, meaning thanks to the possibility to have a latency time of about 1 ms. This solution does not require ...