With the rapid development of autonomous driving technology, collaborative communication between vehicles has become increasingly important. Vehicle to Vehicle (V2X) technology, as a new type of vehicle communication technology, achieves information exchange between vehicles and infrastructure through vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to road collaboration (V2I), effectively improving road traffic safety and efficiency. In V2X technology, Cellular V2X (abbreviated as C-V2X) based on cellular networks has become the preferred technology for communication between vehicles and roadside infrastructure due to its wide area coverage and low latency.

V2X technology accelerates popularization and has broad development prospects

As a key technology for intelligent connected vehicles, the development of V2X technology has gone through several critical stages.

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Image reference: 5GAA white paper "C-V2X Use Cases and Service Level Requirements"

The first wave of V2X was in 2018-2020, with the release of 3GPP Release 15 and Release 16, V2X technology began to land in the market.

Since BMW announced in 2022 that future models will be fully equipped with V2X, the attention and application of V2X technology have increased, ushering in a second wave of enthusiasm. The continuous evolution of 5G, especially the release of Release 17 and Release 18, provides a higher speed, lower latency, and more reliable communication foundation for V2X applications, promoting the rapid development of V2X technology and the expansion of application scenarios, especially in areas related to traffic efficiency and safety, such as traffic information collection and sharing, emergency electronic brake lights, left turn assist, etc.

It is worth mentioning that China is relatively leading in the development of V2X technology. According to statistics, in 2023, the standard 5G configuration rate for new cars in China will be 7.5%, while the V2X assembly rate will only be 1%. The V2X applications deployed on a large scale in these mass-produced vehicles mainly include basic safety applications (such as forward collision warning, emergency electronic brake lights, left turn assist, etc.) as well as the sharing of local danger and traffic information.

In the past two years, the government has successively introduced some favorable policies for V2X. For example, on September 27, 2023, the 2024 draft of the China New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP) was released on the official website of the China Automotive Technology Research Center, which included V2X in the evaluation scope for the first time. The V2X section of the 2024 C-NCAP has been added to the ADAS section, and the description of the target vehicle (GVT) in the test project includes "C-V2X network communication capability". Therefore, theoretically, all active safety tests can be implemented using V2X. In addition, the deployment of "vehicle road cloud integration" in 20 pilot cities jointly released by the five major departments will further promote the adoption of V2X vehicles.

Although V2X technology currently mainly provides warning and reminder functions, with the maturity of technology and policy support, V2X's functions will become increasingly rich and closely integrated with bicycle intelligence, gradually participating in the decision-making process and becoming the "crutch" of bicycle intelligence.

In terms of technological development, V2X will be combined with new technologies such as high-precision maps (HD Maps) and vehicle to pedestrian (VRU) perception after this year. By 2026, C-V2X is expected to be deployed on a large scale in more complex and advanced autonomous driving applications, such as sensor sharing, cooperative driving, and dynamic intersection management.

V2X technology promotes advanced autonomous driving

In the complex traffic environment of cities, although the camera recognition of autonomous vehicles can provide real-time information, there are blind spots in obstructed or complex road conditions (such as intersections), which cannot ensure accuracy. In contrast, V2X communication has the advantages of high real-time performance and being unaffected by occlusion, which can compensate for the shortcomings of the former. For high-level autonomous driving at L3 and above, the high-quality signal provided by V2X is crucial. As for mid to low end models, V2X can provide more basic driving assistance functions, such as navigation and collision warning, thereby enhancing driving safety.

Therefore, V2X communication technology has become an important means to solve the limited visibility range of single vehicle sensors and an important part of achieving highly automated driving.

However, when adding V2X functionality to existing intelligent driving software, developers face limitations in scene construction, traffic light settings, and the inability to automatically generate V2X messages from high-precision maps. This is because the existing simulation tools for autonomous driving test scenarios lack certain key functions and can only rely on temporary and insufficiently automated solutions.

With the continuous development of V2X technology, the close collaboration between vehicles, roads, and clouds will become particularly important. It is difficult for either party to independently build a V2X system, and industry cooperation has become a key force in promoting the implementation of this technology.

Just as Zero Beam Technology plays an innovator and pioneer in the field of V2X mass-produced vehicle applications, it is enhancing the environmental perception and decision-making capabilities of autonomous vehicles through V2X technology, utilizing real-time data exchange between vehicles (V2V), vehicles and infrastructure (V2I), and vehicles and networks (V2N) to achieve beyond line of sight traffic information acquisition, thereby overcoming the limitations of traditional sensors in adverse weather or obstructed vision situations. By integrating the V2X communication module, the auto drive system can predict and prevent potential traffic risks, optimize driving strategies and improve road safety and traffic efficiency through collaborative decision-making between vehicles and between vehicles and traffic signal systems.

Optimizing collision warning at urban intersections using V2X communication

In the process of enhancing and accelerating autonomous driving, benefiting from the product and technical service support of MathWorks, Zero Beam Technology has efficiently developed vehicle collision warning simulation scenarios for intersections. Intersection is a very typical blind spot scene for intelligent driving, which can effectively utilize the V2X blind spot filling function. Zero beam technology can simulate the complexity of the actual traffic environment including V2X system by using MathWorks Simulink test-bed model and RoadRunner scene, test each module in the auto drive system, ensure full verification of functions, and reduce risks in practical applications.

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Image reference: MathWorks 2024 China Automotive Annual Conference, using Simulink test bench and RoadRunner Scenario to jointly simulate intersection warning

RoadRunner, as a design, testing, and simulation tool for V2X functionality in autonomous driving fusion scenarios, is mainly used to create static and dynamic scenes, such as complex road networks, traffic signals, vehicles, pedestrians, and other environmental elements. RoadRunner itself can support the import and export of different high-precision maps. On this basis, MathWorks and Zero Beam Technology have developed multiple new features for intelligent connected vehicle applications based on V2X standards, including automated processing based on high-definition map information, configuration and interaction of traffic light timing signals, etc. RoadRunner provides a useful tool to automatically generate MAP and SPaT messages from high-definition maps, greatly improving the efficiency of SIL (software in the loop) testing. After installing the RoadRunner SIL testing environment on the industrial computer and connecting it to the testing instrument, automated HIL testing can be achieved.

In this system, Simulink is responsible for implementing the calculation and control of intelligent driving functions, and generating output results based on inputs. Through information exchange between Simulink and RoadRunner, the simulation environment can interact with actual algorithms to simulate the dynamic behavior and decision-making process of vehicles.

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Image reference: MathWorks 2024 China Automotive Annual Conference

In addition, both parties have also focused on developing functions related to traffic lights, especially on how V2X communication interacts with the timing signals of traffic lights. Through these developments, vehicles can be informed in advance of the traffic light status at the intersection ahead, and take corresponding measures in a timely manner.

The collaboration between Zero Beam Technology and MathWorks has brought the following technological innovations and industry advantages:

-Accuracy of simulation and testing: Using MATLAB and Simulink for V2X platform development makes the simulation and testing process more precise.

-Efficient feature development: RoadRunner provides high-precision map information extraction and processing capabilities, supporting automated generation of map messages in V2X applications. This simulation capability helps development teams test the performance and safety of V2X systems in virtual environments, thereby improving development efficiency and reducing the time and cost required for physical testing.

-Reducing costs and improving safety: V2X technology enhances the interaction between vehicles and infrastructure through real-time communication, providing higher safety assurance. For example, through V2X technology, vehicles can obtain the status of intersection signals in advance, thereby optimizing decision-making and reducing the probability of accidents. At the same time, the integration of V2X technology enables effective driving assistance functions to be achieved on low-cost hardware, making the popularization of advanced functions more economical.

-Promoting technological iteration and application popularization: Simulation and modeling tools such as MATLAB and Simulink help development teams better understand and implement complex V2X functions, such as traffic light control and instant communication between vehicles, which have elevated the technological level of the entire industry.

epilogue

The collaboration between MathWorks and Zero Beam Technology fully leverages their respective advantages to jointly create an efficient and reliable V2X simulation platform for intersection collision prediction. This platform not only provides important support for the development and implementation of V2X technology, but also lays a solid foundation for the popularization of intelligent driving. Looking ahead, with the decrease in hardware costs and the strengthening of policy support, the market penetration rate of V2X technology will significantly increase in 2025 and the next three to five years. Let's wait and see.