Ericsson will lead a consortium of companies charged with developing 5G technology for connected vehicles, in the second phase of the EU-backed 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP).

Dubbed the European 5GCAR Project, the initiative involves 14 partners including Orange, Nokia, Huawei and Volvo Cars, with the aim of developing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network connectivity which the vendor stated represents a “significant step towards connected vehicles”.

The 5GCAR programme is one of 21 new projects retained out of a total of 101 proposed as part of phase two of 5G-PPP, which was initiated by the European Commission, industry manufacturers, telecoms operators, service providers, SMEs and researchers in December 2013.

Ericsson said the EU allocated a budget of €154 million for innovative projects such as 5GCAR in different vertical sectors.

The consortium will be eligible for funding to extend testing and ensure safe deployment of connected vehicles by 2020, when 5G is widely expected to launch.

Franck Bouetard, head of Ericsson France, said the funding represents a “major step” towards developing the network in time for 2020.

“Having such projects in Europe is key in this worldwide race, as it will secure additional business and employment in the continent in the future,” he added.