Glasgow City Council is taking part in a project to test the use of augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) harnessing 5G for public transport.
The technology is to be used to provide ‘infotainment’ services in a demonstrator on the Glasgow Metro, following a first use on the Seoul Metro in South Korea.
This follows its winning bid for £2.4 million in support – half from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and half from the South Korean Government – to explore the use of 5G on transport systems.
Glasgow is taking part as a member of the 5G RailNext consortium, which also includes Cisco, the University of Strathclyde and British SMEs Soluis and Ampletime.
The project will run from next month until March 2021 and involve providing services including travel information, video streaming and gaming through wearable devices such as headsets.
It has won backing as part of the Government’s £200 million 5G Testbeds and Trials Progamme, aimed at boosting the ecosystem for the technology in the UK.
Future of connectivity
Digital Minister Margot James said: “5G is the future of connectivity and we want the UK to be a world leader. This collaboration with South Korea will explore innovative ways to use the technology to deliver content and services on transport networks in Seoul and Glasgow.
“I’m delighted that this will create new partnership and business opportunities for UK SMEs, academia and local government.”
DCMS said that following the Glasgow demonstrator the technology could be tested on the London Underground and the New York Metro.
Image by Greg Neate, CC BY 2.0
