Samsung and Vodafone will make history this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed by unveiling the world’s first remotely controlled 5G car.
Drifting champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. will remotely drift the vehicle around the track while wearing a virtual reality headset that offers a cockpit view from inside the car.
Speaking ahead of the event, Gittin Jr. said:
“I’ve built my career on pushing the limits of car control, but I never imagined I’d be pushing those limits while using VR, mobile devices, and remote driving equipment.
I’m putting on a VR headset to deliver an interactive show for the Goodwood crowd, and I’ll be remotely piloting the S-Drone from Samsung’s Future Lab, located on another part of the Goodwood estate. This is going to be wild!”
The car, a Lincoln MKZ, will be driven up the famous Goodwood Hillclimb. A Samsung Galaxy S10 will be used alongside Samsung’s virtual reality headset to deliver the remote experience.
Yoon Lee, Senior Vice President of Product Innovation and Content & Services at Samsung Electronics America, added:
“This proof of concept is an important step toward remote presence use cases enabled by 5G, and the Goodwood Festival of Speed provided an ideal testing ground.
We’re excited to lead the evolution of consumer experiences on 5G by extending the capabilities of our product portfolio and technologies.”
Connectivity will be supplied by Vodafone’s recently launched 5G network.
Max Taylor, Consumer Director at Vodafone UK, explained:
“The driver, positioned elsewhere on the Goodwood grounds, will guide the car around the track using a VR headset.
Vodafone’s 5G network delivers speeds up to ten times faster than 4G and extremely low latency, which is essential for applications like this where instantaneous response is critical.”
This latest 5G demonstration is a more grounded concept than some prior publicity stunts from the sector.
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