Connected and Automated Vehicles

This report provides practical guidance for Australian and New Zealand road agencies on the role, feasibility and implementation considerations of 5G cellular connectivity technologies, for Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems and Vehicle-to-Everything applications. The study combines a literature review, structured assessment of candidate use cases, stakeholder workshops and an ‘impact versus effort’ prioritisation.

Findings indicate that 4G/LTE (Fourth-generation cellular networks) can support some use cases, while 5G Standalone and advanced network features improve latency, reliability, capacity and performance predictability for more complex, time-sensitive functions. Seven high-value use cases were prioritised, covering local alerts, road-worker zones, traffic signal priority and related services. The analysis shows that the primary constraints are institutional fragmentation, governance, data consistency and coverage rather than baseline network capability.

The report provides guidance to road agencies on the role of 5G in transport and infrastructure including requirements for scaling and transitioning to 5G. The report concludes that a staged, corridor based rollout using harmonised message sets and National Access Points, supported by a unified trust framework and clear commercial arrangements, offers a practical implementation pathway identified through the research and stakeholder engagement.

Hybrid architectures that combine wide-area V2N2X with short-range communications where needed provide a practical transition to 5G, improving safety and network efficiency while aligning with international practice.