HKT put a standalone (SA) 5G network through its paces in a cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) trial on public roads, claiming the first application of SA technology to a vertical industry in Hong Kong.

The operator stated it conducted a trial this week on a dedicated 14km route in the city, using roadside units installed on traffic lights and lampposts to provide real-time traffic information to vehicles.

Peter Lam, MD of engineering at HKT, said smart mobility is “one of the key elements of the government’s Smart City Blueprint and C-V2X is the enabling technology that will transform urban transport”.

He anticipates the combination of 5G and C-V2X will enable autonomous driving which will “revolutionise” Hong Kong’s transportation services and help it “evolve into a world-class smart city”.

The trial is HKT’s latest work involving C-V2X: in 2017, it teamed with Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), Huawei and Qualcomm to establish the Smart Mobility Consortium to bring C-V2X technologies to Hong Kong.

HKT launched 5G services on a non-standalone network in April 2020.