Industry sees threat to connected-car plans

WASHINGTON — Save the spectrum.

That's the rallying cry of transportation officials and traffic safety advocates, who are increasing efforts to ensure a swath of wireless spectrum essential for their connected-car future remains reserved for the auto industry.

As calls to open that spectrum for use by other industries grow louder, auto industry leaders met in the capital this month and underscored their belief they can someday prevent car crashes and reduce traffic deaths by using technology that lets vehicles exchange safety messages via the wireless spectrum.

The life-saving potential of vehicle-to-everything, or V2X, technology has been evident for decades — Congress set aside the band for the auto industry in 1998. But there has not been widespread use.

"There's a lot of reasons, but the reality is we haven't utilized it to the extent that, if you look back, we would have thought we would have," Jeff Klei, president of Continental's North American business, told Automotive News. "So now there's a lot of people who are trying to grab that spectrum. They have their own motivation, but it's not necessarily safety. For us, we have to protect it for safety purposes, and we're right on the cusp of needing it."

Klei spoke about the need to preserve the 5.9-gigahertz spectrum in remarks at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America's annual meeting, where the band's precarious future was a central focus.

In recent weeks, the Federal Communications Commission has changed its posture toward the auto industry's grip on this valuable spectrum, which is being eyed by wireless carriers.

FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly told the Wi-Fi Alliance, "the technology has not been integrated into most automobiles, with only three years of operation in one product line that is now scheduled to be discontinued."

He was referring to the Cadillac CTS, which had included V2X communications since 2017. GM said Cadillac will employ the technology again on a "high-volume crossover" starting in 2023.

Last month, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was more blunt. "This valuable midband spectrum is largely lying fallow, and it has been so for two decades now," he said, before announcing he intended to begin a review of the allocation.

Automakers and others have bickered over the best way to send safety messages, with some companies such as Toyota favoring dedicated short-range communications, or DSRC, and others such as Ford favoring a cellular version.

Most experts believe it's essential they pick one or the other, because the promise of the technology lies in building a critical mass of vehicles and infrastructure able to send and receive the messages. But a Department of Transportation proposal that might have led to a mandate for DSRC has stalled.

While some disagree on the method, auto industry experts and others in transportation broadly agree the spectrum should be preserved for their use. Pai's remarks rankled some, and they used the ITS America meeting to begin jabbing back.

"We need to speak the truth," said Shailen Bhatt, CEO of ITS America, a Washington nonprofit that promotes research into transportation technology. "The spectrum is not lying fallow. We are on the cusp of seeing connected vehicle technology become reality."

Pilot projects involving the technology have occurred over the past two decades in places such as Tampa Bay, Fla.; New York City; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and more recently in Colorado, Utah and other locations. Transportation officials argue it's taken years to vet the technology, and ensure its safety for use. Once they pick the method, most believe the industry could quickly begin outfitting vehicles and infrastructure with the technology at wide scale.

FCC officials have suggested the spectrum could be shared with other industries, but transportation officials say that might further delay the rollout of connected-vehicle tech, because automakers would need to ensure the safety messages wouldn't be slowed on a congested spectrum.

"If it is shared with others, it loses its value for traffic safety," said Diana Furchtgott-Roth, deputy assistant secretary for research and technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation. "We need regulatory certainty, and the FCC needs to respect the need for that spectrum to be used for traffic safety."