Swedish operator Telia announced it is building 5G transport corridors as a testing environment for autonomous vehicles to travel between the country’s key industrial sites, part of the NorthStar innovation programme it launched earlier this year. 

Telia stated capital for the project came from a €15.5 million investment pot given to its Swedish and Finnish units by the European Union in 2022. Latvian operator LMT, in which Telia owns a 60.3 per cent stake, also received this funding. 

The company explained the 5G corridors are currently being built on select routes and will span 150 kilometres.

It is expected to connect some areas on highways in Stockholm and a national highway in Gothenburg, which will be in “close proximity” to AstaZero, provider of testing environments for road safety.  

Telia expects the project will connect self-driving vehicles to “important industrial and technology clusters in Sweden”, and there is a plan for the 5G corridors to be extended to public roads. It earmarked Q2 2024 for full-scale testing.

“By upgrading the existing 5G network and connecting NorthStar’s innovation network along strategically selected routes in industrially dense regions, we are establishing transport corridors that enable vehicles to switch between local dedicated mobile networks and the public 5G network”, said Magnus Leonhardt, head of strategy and innovation at Telia Sweden’s B2B Business. 

Telia further expects the project will play a decisive role in the introduction of smarter and sustainable technologies.