Exclusive: How Huawei Is Leveraging TaaS To Provide A New World Of Autonomous Driving?

Customers across a range of industries are seeking change in this dynamic digital world and the auto industry is not an exception. Although today's new-age drivers are willing to spend a little more on their car, they demand a smart, intelligent vehicle that provides them with a well-rounded driving experience. The auto industry is bracing for a shift that hasn't occurred in nearly a century. Future ICT-automotive industry integration will open numerous new strategic opportunities for all ICT players. In this context, Huawei is well-positioned to help transform the industry and provide an entirely new world of intelligent and smart driving.

Hence, to bring in a revolution in the automotive sector, Huawei has invested heavily in the R&D of intelligent automotive components, to offer sophisticated ICT technologies to automakers for the development of new-age smart vehicles. Huawei is focused to invest more in intelligent driving solutions, that will help car OEMs build better intelligent vehicles focusing on intelligent driving, e-cockpit, intelligent electrification, connectivity, and intelligent automobile cloud.

Additionally, it has been predicted that fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) will become commonplace by 2030, quietly and precisely navigating the world's roads and representing a significant advancement in AI- and electric-powered autonomy that has already advanced far beyond the infancy phase of fixed routes. One of the most revolutionary technologies in our lives may be AVs, which are already in use.

Furthermore, the transportation model that is likely to evolve from AVs is poised to be cheaper, more time saving and a safer option. Transport-as-a-Service (TaaS), one of the many crowdsourcing commute apps, is also likely to advance even further with AVs, creating a quick and on-demand service that, with the aid of smart digital technology, will know one's travel preferences and history before it even picks you up.

Under the TaaS model, passenger AVs are likely to have significantly longer service lives, but much more active life than current automobiles do. Given that up to 75% of car trips are made by a single passenger, it's possible that future cars will have a form factor similar to connectable pods that allow for both single- and multi-passenger trips.

Few benefits which TaaS brings to the table

Money Saver – A logical outcome of TaaS, and one that will have a massive impact on the urban landscape is that there’ll be far fewer cars on the roads. According to the Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030 Report, which focuses on TaaS, predicts that US car ownership will plummet by 80%, from the current 247 million to just 44 million in 2030. If this is accurate on a global basis, there will only be slightly more than 260 million cars in use globally by 2030 than there are in the US today.

Time Saver – The Vehicle-to-Everything connectivity and connected traffic infrastructure promises effortless, gridlock-free commuting, which in return proves to be a time saver. As a quality-of-life booster too, there is also an added advantage of pain-free commuting.

Safety – Aside from saving time and money, autonomous vehicles (AVs) can also save lives. Unlike humans, an AI driver will not drive irresponsibly, fall asleep, or engage in risky manoeuvres such as tailgating or overtaking on corners. The anticipated transition to electric power for AVs will gradually eliminate a major source of pollution, eventually increasing the longevity of people who die from pollution each year.

Convenience bringer - With humanity swelling its ranks by 1 billion every 12 years or so, our planet is becoming an increasingly crowded place. We could all be on our way to a better life if there were fewer cars on the road, less pollution, faster travel, and the use of driverless taxis.

This is still a relatively new technology, and we have a long way to go before we can fully realise its potential. Bringing intelligence to every vehicle will soon enable intelligent driving, intelligent places, intelligent services, and intelligent operations.

This article is authored Sarad Shrestha, Director – Sales, Huawei Telecommunications India.