Auto Industry Hopes for Keeping 5.9 GHz Face Challenges
Regulatory uncertainty about the 5.9 GHz band's future threatens the progress auto industry OEMs and some state transportation departments are making in deploying vehicle-to-everything technology (V2X) for safety purposes, Global Automakers (GA) said in a call Thursday with reporters, arguing its case for a flexible-use licensing regime for the band. How much traction the auto industry proposal has at the FCC is unclear. The industry narrative about using the band to save lives "is a powerful one," but it's also somewhat undercut by relative lack of dedicated short-range communications (DSCR) in the band, said Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Marc Scribner.
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At least some commissioners seem to want to allow unlicensed use in at least part of the band and not keep it solely for auto safety, said R Street fellow Joe Kane. He said it's not clear if the agency might clear the whole band for unlicensed, but the auto industry isn't likely to keep all of 5.9 GHz. Kane said it might make sense, though, for the band to be dedicated to unlicensed, so it could pair with unlicensed spectrum around it, creating wider channels. Being surrounded by unlicensed bands is an odd place to put auto safety operations, and there might be a better home elsewhere, he said.
The current V2X deployment is based on the existing band plan, and changes to the 5.9 GHz rules could require changes to radios in the field, creating uncertainty and a threat to investment and putting automakers back at the planning rather than deployment stage, said GA outside counsel Scott Delacourt of Wiley Rein. On the call, GA largely recapped its plan, presented in May to the FCC, for a flexible-use licensing regime in the band that still keeps it solely for auto safety, along with buildout requirements (see 1905170052). GA Vice President-Vehicle Safety and Connected Automation Steve Gehring said resolving regulatory and spectrum uncertainty will spur more deployment of V2X safety applications.
Delacourt said a criticism of auto industry has been its relative lack of use of the 5.9 GHz band, but FCC rules for the band don't set any deadline. He said the GA proposal corrects that shortcoming with buildout requirements: 2 million V2X radios deployed within five years in vehicles and/or roadway infrastructure, and within 10 years deployment of V2X radios in numbers equivalent to 75 percent of new light vehicles sold in the U.S. in the calendar year of the final buildout deadline. GA said 12 million new light vehicles were sold in the U.S. in 2018.
CEI's Scribner said the band is guaranteed going to be reallocated, since it's now dedicated to DSRC use and there's not even agreement in the auto industry about DSRC vs. V2X. Additionally, he said the Department of Transportation is pushing for allowing other auto safety uses along with DSRC in the band. That DOT has an interest in automotive safety use for the band could make it tough for the FCC to do completely differently, Scribner said. But the FCC might see a route in shrinking the amount of the band strictly for auto use, he said.