A lot of people are still wondering what benefits can the highly anticipated 5G bring to our phone networks.
A recent remote-controlled car test in China's Xiongan New District serves as a demonstration of 5G's superiority.
Chinese AI and autonomous companies have teamed up to achieve a less than 6 milliseconds response time during the test, almost 10 times faster than 4G.
The testers drove a car remotely using a 5G network for 20 kilometers, performing accelerations, turns and brakes. The response time was within 6 milliseconds for the whole duration of the test.
There are 1,000 milliseconds in one second. Typical 4G response time is 50 milliseconds.
Fast in another meaning
Response time is the time between users issuing commands to devices actually receiving them.
When we talk about Internet speed, we usually mean how fast we download, or transfer data. But the speed can also be translated to response time.
Although the theoretical speed of our data transfer is the speed of light, it can be much slower in reality.
Response time, or latency, lag, has been troubling Internet gamers for a long time. In intensified shooting and racing titles, lag can be literally a game changer.
Also general office work requires remote control, which can be a bad experience with high lag.
With 5G, lag can be greatly reduced, paving the way to many life-changing applications like remote-surgery for hospitals and, in this news piece, remote driving.
Xiongan New District was planned in 2017 to become a satellite city of China's capital Beijing, bringing a package of favored policies to the area.
One of them is the permit for autonomous car testing. Qualified companies can test their technology in specific areas in Xiong'an.
The technology, namely 5G-V2X, can also be applied to other vehicles or devices, according to a local report.
Chinese business newspaper Securities Times reported that a branch of China's State Council confirmed the news.
By Gong Zhe
