Verizon, AWS drive mobile edge computing platform to Dallas and Miami

In the cellular-vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) markets, 5G and mobile edge computing have become essential building blocks for enabling autonomous and connected vehicles. Verizon and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are bringing their core competency in mobile communications and cloud – 5G Edge and Wavelength, respectively – to developers and businesses in Dallas and Miami.

AWS Wavelength is designed to support the development of edge-based cloud applications that serve users with single-digit millisecond latencies over a 5G network. It focuses on providing users with a way of moving low-latency workloads off-premise, complementing AWS “mega” datacentre regions with smaller cloud data processing hubs in major cities to support enterprises requiring low-latency connections to its compute and storage resources.

Indeed, AWS Wavelength extends this concept, supporting at the edge latency-sensitive use cases such as the internet of things (IoT), augmented and virtual reality, autonomous industrial equipment and smartcars. It is set up to reduce the time taken by mobile devices in crossing multiple networks when connecting to applications, which can result in latencies of more than 100ms (milliseconds), even on 5G networks.

Verizon 5G Edge is a mobile edge computing (MEC) platform designed to enable developers to build applications for mobile users and wireless edge devices with ultra-low latency, extended battery life, massive throughput and more.

Several C-V2X and V2X development firms are already testing their solutions at the edge of Verizon’s 5G network. 5G Edge moves the data and processing done by the applications and services closer to the user at the edge of the network. This shortens the round trip that data needs to travel, reducing lag time, or latency, and helps critical, performance-impacting applications respond more quickly and efficiently.

Verizon and AWS launched Verizon 5G Edge with AWS Wavelength in August 2019 in Boston and the Bay Area, and have since expanded to seven cities overall, including Atlanta, New York and Washington, DC, with plans to reach 10 US cities by the end of the year.

Several C-V2X and V2X innovators, including Renovo, Savari and LG Electronics, are already testing their solutions on AWS Wavelength at the edge of Verizon’s 5G network.

Renovo’s automotive data platform intelligently indexes and filters advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) vehicle data in near-real time. Verizon’s 5G and MEC deployments have allowed Renovo to prove out new network-ADAS safety features such as real-time alerts for all vehicles in the vicinity of an emergency-braking event and other situations where drivers need to react instantly to dangerous situations ahead.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics is piloting a next-generation C-V2X platform using Verizon 5G Edge and AWS Wavelength to move data in near-real time, which includes a service that is intended to improve driving safety with secure information sharing between vehicles, mobile devices and transportation infrastructures.

Savari is testing how the high bandwidth and ultra-low latencies enabled by 5G and MEC can support applications that can provide warning information to drivers and pedestrians in near-real time.

“As we work together on the next generation of infrastructure hardware and software, we are enabling the intelligent transportation systems of the future in which vehicles will see around blind corners and intersections; avoid vulnerable road users like pedestrians and bicyclists; instantly react to emergencies via 360-degree awareness of the traffic grid; and share unsafe road conditions with other vehicles in real time,” said Ravi Puvvala, CEO at Savari.

“The C-V2X trial with Verizon 5G Edge and AWS Wavelength leverages the power of 5G and MEC to create communication paths that are hyperlocal, highly reliable and super-low latency to make our roads many times safer, with unprecedented levels of high efficiency and low environmental impact.”