5G Automotive Association Makes Case for Alternative to DSRC
The new 5G Automotive Association unveiled its vision for a connected future, in a Thursday event. The 5GAA demoed cars equipped with the technology at Washington's RFK Stadium. Coalition officials said they are testing the technology around the world, including in Michigan, the center for the U.S. auto industry. The alliance and its cellular vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) has been quietly gaining ground as an alternative to dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) in the 5.9 GHz band (see 1803140055). Qualcomm demonstrated C-V2X at CES in January.
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The coalition is “looking to the next stage” of connected vehicles, said Chairman Christoph Voigt. The group launched in 2016 and now includes 84 companies, he said. “It really is a who’s who of the automotive world, of the telecommunications world, of the chipset world and of the mobile operator world,” Voigt said. “Really, almost everybody who is working on 5G.”
The technology will only work if it's widespread, available in as many vehicles as possible, Voigt said. “We believe that 5G will be the next step which brings us to a much, much better mobile connectivity all over the world,” he said. Voigt warned it would be time consuming and costly to move forward on both C-V2X and DSRC. The technology “is not the future, it's reality,” he said. “The chipsets are already here.” C-V2X is likely to hit the market as early as 2021, though it could be rolled out earlier in China, he said.
Under FCC rules, the 5.9 GHz band remains allocated to DSRC, a technology that has been under development for decades. Agency officials are watching. Among those who saw the demo was Commissioner Brendan Carr. “Great to see this & other innovative work aimed at improving road safety,” Carr tweeted. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly also tweeted he had been given a demo.
“It’s very, very important that we get the spectrum,” Voigt said. “The spectrum discussions are still ongoing. This is a request from 5GAA to everybody here to support us to get the spectrum for this technology.”
“This is primarily intended to convey to you, and your road operator community compatriots, the CV-X proposition,” said Jim Misener, technology standards senior director at Qualcomm. ”We hope that at the end of the day, there are lots of discussions.” The coalition is “a unique partnership” between the tech and automotive industries, Misener said. “What is really missing in this partnership, particularly in North America … is that handshake and partnership with people who own and operates our roads.”
Cellular technology “is starting to look and feel like a very, very viable technology that can actually do everything that we wanted to do with the technologies that were there in the past,” said Jovan Zagajac with Ford, a member of the 5GAA board. Ford announced all its 2019 new vehicles will have connectivity, he said. “There is significant movement right now to enable connectivity in cars.” Automaker groups didn't comment.
Zagajac said time automakers have spent on DSRC wasn’t wasted and a “very, very significant amount” of the work they did will carry over to C-V2X. Applications like emergency braking and left-turn assist were developed for DSRC, he said. “They’re essentially just ported applications.”