MWCapital, SEAT, Telefónica, Ficosa, ETRA and i2CAT promote a Connected Car pilot project

• The agreement will allow for the incorporation of SEAT, Ficosa and ETRA in 5G Barcelona, an initiative promoted by MWCapital, i2CAT and others that also involves Telefónica
• Application of 5G technology to the project will facilitate testing of the connection among automobiles, urban infrastructure and other vehicles

Mobile World Capital Barcelona, SEAT, Telefónica, Ficosa, ETRA and i2CAT have signed a collaboration agreement to perform a pilot project for connected cars. The project lies within the scope of the 5G Barcelona consortium, which is an initiative intended to consolidate the city of Barcelona as Europe’s benchmark 5G hub. It also involves the collaboration of other members of 5G Barcelona such as UPC and CTTC.

The signing of the agreement was attended by Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Christian Stein, General Director of Institutional Relations of SEAT, Bruno Vilarasau, Director of Digital Services and Public Administrations of Telefónica, Joan Palacin, Director of the Advanced Communications Business Unit of Ficosa, Rafael Barnola, General Director of ETRA Bonal, and Josep Paradells, Director of the i2CAT Foundation.

This pilot project, which is jointly headed by SEAT and Telefónica, represents the first step towards totally cooperative autonomous driving. The features of 5G technology, such as low latency and edge computing (a technology that simplifies IoT device traffic and permits real-time local data analysis), will facilitate communication among the automobile, the infrastructure and other travelling vehicles.

The pilot project will cover both safety while driving and aspects related to “infotainment” through the downloading of high-definition entertainment contents.

About 5G Barcelona

5GBarcelona is a public-private partnership that constitutes a neutral, open hub for the testing and roll-out of 5G technology and applications in a real city environment. It is sponsored by the Regional Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Hall, the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, the i2CAT Foundation, the CTTC (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya), Atos and the UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya).

5GBarcelona aims to transform Barcelona’s metropolitan area into a leading 5G innovation laboratory with an open experimental structure for testing, creating prototypes and implementing new digital solutions.

www.5gbarcelona.com