(Excerpt)
US regulatory agency the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
has delayed a review of the bandwidth currently reserved for
vehicles which enable vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications.
According to a Reuters report, FCC chairman Ajit Pai has delayed a
planned review of the 5.9 GHz band which was scheduled to begin in
June. The band has been held for automotive use in dedicated
short-range communications (DSRC) and is expected to be valuable in
supporting vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) communications. According to the Reuters report, the delay is
the result of a request from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao
for more time. The delay to the review also ensures a delay to the
final decision on whether to continue reserving the band for
automobiles or to release part of it for other uses.
Significance: The frequency band is in demand
from television companies, cable companies, wireless carriers, and
WiFi providers. While the band has been held for automobiles for 20
years, progress towards using it has been slow and concern over
bandwidth availability was also a factor in Toyota recently
deciding to halt plans for DSRC-based V2X deployment . In 2016, US
regulatory agency the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) proposed making V2V technology standard on
all vehicles, although the proposal has not moved forward . The
radar frequency allocation is managed by the US government for this
market, to ensure that there is frequency dedicated to certain
functions and that overlap does not cause errors in transmission
through overuse of the bandwidth. The FCC allocated a block of
spectrum frequencies in 1999 dedicated to V2V communications that
has so far largely gone unused. V2V and V2X technology is being
deployed slowly and will not have a notable impact on the auto
industry until more cars have it, enabling them to share
information. In the United States, radio frequency is regulated by
the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration.
