Soliton has been actively involved in developing highly reliable elements of the solution that is core to delivering a complete remote driving solution. The teledriver, who sits in a mockup car console with its steering controls, looks at monitors around them that gives them the view from the car as if they are looking through the windscreen, mirrors and side windows. If the teledriver is to operate the car safely, then it’s imperative that the view they receive is in real-time. A delay of even a few hundred milliseconds could prove fatal, given the time it would take for the driver to pull out safely into traffic or to react to an emergency such as a child running into the road.

Soliton’s unique Zao technology can provide live video streams from the car back to the teledriver in less than 100ms. It does this using bonded cellular connections and its own RASCOW2 technology. 

By bonding together multiple 4G and 5G connections, it is possible to create a single virtualized network link based on multiple links with different cellular operators simultaneously for extreme reliability and high bandwidth. This is utilized for live streaming video back to the teleoperator.  As the Zao technology can provide two-way communication, it operates bi-directionally.  In one direction from the car to the teledriver is the ultra-low latency live video streaming from multiple cameras in the car, and the second is a secure IP network connection that sends the commands back from the teledriver to control the car for real time operation.

Ultra-low latency of video transmission from a remote location back to the teleoperator is a key feature of Soliton’s technology. Other bonding systems typically have latencies of 1 to 2 seconds. Even over 4G, Soliton can uniquely achieve latencies of 65ms and below, including both encoding and decoding. With 5G, this latency can be further reduced.

Soliton’s technology is being adopted by teledriving companies and automotive companies that seek to implement reliable and low-latency solutions. As video becomes increasingly important for car communication, it is crucial that the technology is cloud and MEC-ready.

The Zao technology does not rely on expensive 360-degree lidar sensors, nor does it have the requirement of collecting massive amounts of lidar data, making it less expensive and easier to implement.