Announcement marks major turning point in realizing Safety Spectrum’s full potential for transportation safety
April 23, 2020 – Marking the biggest step toward widespread deployment of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies in the United States, today the auto industry announced a ground breaking, industry-wide commitment to deploy at least 5 million V2X radios on vehicles and roadway infrastructure within the next five years. The commitment is predicated on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maintaining the entire 75 MHz within the 5.9 GHz Safety Spectrum for transportation safety and permitting Cellular V2X (C-V2X) technology to operate alongside Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC). This pledge represents a major turning point in realizing the Safety Spectrum’s full potential for transportation safety, and was made in an FCC filing by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators), which represents manufacturers producing nearly 99 percent of U.S.-sold cars and light trucks.
V2X communication technologies operate in the 5.9 GHz Safety Spectrum band and allow vehicles to share real-time safety-critical information with each other and with infrastructure and other road users. These applications promise significant safety and societal benefits, including crash reductions that can save lives and provide economic, environmental, and transportation efficiencies.
“This commitment represents more than 50 times the number of devices on the road today,” said Auto Innovators President and CEO John Bozzella. “This commitment by automakers clearly shows that these lifesaving technologies are ready and can be deployed in significant numbers in the next five years.”
This commitment, which includes previous V2X deployments, shows that the auto industry is aggressively working, along with other stakeholders, to dramatically increase utilization in the 5.9 GHz band.
“Truly optimizing the Safety Spectrum and achieving widespread deployment requires certainty that the entire 5.9 GHz band will be available,” added Bozzella.
Even in the face of regulatory uncertainty about the Safety Spectrum’s future, the industry has made significant progress in developing and deploying V2X technologies in the U.S. market. Prior to this commitment, vehicle manufacturers that have already deployed or announced V2X deployments accounted for more than 60 percent of the automotive market share in the U.S.
“Our commitment sends a clear message,” added Bozzella. “We’re on the cusp of widespread V2X deployment. Vehicle connectivity will play a crucial role in enhancing road safety, bolstering our global competitiveness, and providing considerable economic and societal benefits to the traveling public everywhere.”
Read the Letter to the FCC