Verizon and Nissan have successfully proved their initial concept of being able to create a system that is capable of notifying drivers of any dangers coming about behind any visual obstructions. The system depends on sensors mounted on the vehicle as well as sensors mounted on strategic positions on the roadside infrastructure, which allows this communication to occur. Another benefit of this is that Verizon intends to take all of the data processing on the network side, which relieves vehicles and roadside infrastructure. This has been made possible through the implementation of 5G edge computing and C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything).

What Are the Use Cases for This Technology?

Intersections always represent a risk of someone running a red light and anyone else blindly following their own green light for free passage. A good example of a use case for the 5G and C-V2X technology in this regard would be that the system would alert the law-abiding citizen that there is a car driving at a (too) high rate of speed from another branch in the intersection and allow for an educated decision to prevent a possibly fatal accident. The proof of concept had two specific use cases, as shown in the images below:

There are, obviously, countless other situations and road configurations where this type of technology can show its power, but for now, it is good to know that we have the technology and infrastructure required to make something like this happen. The CCTA (Contra Costa Transportation Authority) grant program is expected to test this technology in a controlled urban environment to check if there are any other issues that might affect the effectiveness of this concept.

Source: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-nissan-ccta-collaborate