Cars could soon be communicating with each other using 5G to make drivers aware of upcoming hazards (危险), scientists say. The extremely fast mobile internet would allow for rapid information transmission and could make drivers aware of black ice, pot holes or other dangers up ahead.

Several car manufacturers (制造商) are already using 5G in their vehicles, including as a tool to help serve in the generation of self-driving vehicles.

Experts at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) believe the high-speed connection will also improve the reliability and capability of automated vehicles to the point where they will be safer than the manual cars being driven today. They predict the number of road traffic accidents, which according to the World Health Organization account for more than 1.3 million deaths and up to 50 million people injured worldwide every year, will drop really as a result.

Dr Dimitrios Liarokapis, a member of the research group, said, "To have a better idea of what the future will look like, think of having such cars that not only use sensors to scan what's around them, they can also talk to each other and exchange safety-related information about their surroundings over an area that covers several square miles. With the help of 5G, a vehicle-generated early warning system that reminds drivers is possible within the next few years. Cars that are close enough to the danger area will transmit warning messages to other cars around them using short-range communication technologies, but also to cars further away using 5G, fast and reliably."

A few manufacturers are already working on connected cars. Of them, Ford told its intention to fit 80 percent of its future vehicles with technology that warns drivers about upcoming road accidents, bad weather and traffic jams.