Drive into the future with Nokia’s Network as Code, Elisa and Elmo cars

Original post by Shkumbin Hamiti from Nokia blog.

In “Back to the Future,” Doc Brown famously said, “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” While we haven’t quite reached that level of futuristic travel yet, a groundbreaking proof of concept (PoC) took place in late spring 2024. A car was remotely driven through the public streets of Espoo at Nokia Headquarters, Finland, and during the Imagine Metaverse expo in Tampere.

This successful PoC was the result of a collaboration between Elmo Cars, a pioneer in remote driving technology and the holder of the title for the world’s first road-legal teledrivable cars in car-sharing services since 2022, and telecommunication leaders Elisa and Nokia.

How does this remarkable technology work? Priit Haljak, co-founder and CTO of Elmo, explains: “Elmo develops teledriving technology by equipping cars with multiple cameras and a custom controller for remote driving. With two years of experience in heavy traffic worldwide, our technology is mature. We are proud to be working with global players like Nokia and Elisa.”

Navigating crowded areas presents significant challenges. Network issues and peak time overload can degrade video quality, making it difficult for remote drivers to clearly see the road, surroundings, and traffic signals, thus ensuring the highest safety.

To overcome this challenge, Elmo integrated Nokia’s Quality of Service on Demand (QoD) capability from the Network as Code platform. This capability dynamically adjusts the network to ensure connectivity for Elmo cars, guaranteeing that even during periods of high network traffic, the cars receive the high-quality video feed necessary for safe operation. Juha Saarinen, Technological Manager at Elisa, comments on Elisa’s role in today’s Proof of Concept: “For Elisa, collaboration with partners like Elmo and Nokia is fundamental, especially when it comes to proving the true value of the latest 5G technologies.”

The PoC demonstrated real-time integration and immediate improvements in video quality during network congestion. Network as Code also enables critical device status and network insights, offering valuable information about device connectivity and potential network issues.

Additionally, Nokia’s Network as Code (NaC) serves as an aggregator, allowing for the seamless management of connections through a single interface, regardless of the network provider or country.

Want to know more? Check out this video!

Experience the future of programmable networks with Nokia’s Network as Code. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

About Shkumbin Hamiti

Shkumbin is a twenty-five-year Nokia veteran based in Espoo. His distinguished career with Nokia includes  successful track record of spearheading, leading, developing and influencing some of most significant developments within the mobile industry. Shkumbin held key technology leadership positions in standardization, ecosystem development, devices, GTM partnerships, and business line management. He is named as inventor in 12 granted patents and author of several technical publications. He is currently heading Nokia’s Network Monetization Platform Business Unit helping industry to unleash the power of 5G networks.
Born in Prishtina, Kosovo, Shkumbin studied in Zagreb, Croatia and after a brief time in Bangkok, Thailand he moved to Finland where he has lived since 1996. Married with two teenage sons, he is passionate about aviation and enjoys playing chess.