A Detroit/Silicon Valley War Is In The Air(waves)

by Aaron Cole

Updated: December 31st, 2020 Published: September 10th, 2015

a detroit silicon valley war is in the air waves

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers on Thursday sent a letter to the heads of the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Commerce, urging the groups to keep dedicated a frequency spectrum for future car communication systems.

The spectrum, which is between 5.850 GHz and 5.925 GHz, was allotted to automakers for car-to-car communication and road-to-car communication. Telecommunications and Wi-Fi industry officials have asked to share the spectrum.

“Um, no,” in the nicest possible way, from the Alliance:

We are committed to finding the best path forward to protect the development and deployment of advanced automotive safety systems while also considering the need for additional unlicensed spectrum to meet the increasing demand for wireless broadband Internet services.

Fierce Mobile Government has covered the debate for nearly a year and it seems that the two sides (automotive and telecommunications) may be at a standstill, prompting the letter on Thursday.

Nonetheless, the Alliance says that they’re willing to talk, but that the Department of Transportation should take the lead in investigating whether Wi-Fi signals could interfere with cars. (That’s probably their best shot for dedicated frequency.)

Senators from the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation also sent a letter to the federal departments Thursday asking for the same:

“The demand for spectrum resources continues to expand, requiring the federal government to work harder to find ways to utilize limited spectrum resources more effectively and efficiently. At the same time, new technologies hold tremendous promise for improving vehicle safety and significantly reducing the number of accidents and fatalities,” the senators wrote.

#Communications #DepartmentOfCommerce #DepartmentOfTransportation #Doc #DOT #FCC #Spectrum #V2V #Wi-fi

Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 10 comments

Speedlaw on Sep 10, 2015

This is a turf war. The frequencies are allocated as short distance microwave links for Intelligent Traffic systems, but not yet used. The unlicensed bands for WiFi are full-up, if you live in a populated area. It is not without precedent in the radio frequency world for one user to look covetously upon the neighbor's property, and muse they could do a better job than the current tenant. All the links are short distance, anyone with a 5 ghz net knows that....still, if they intend to use the band for interactive systems, it must be protected.

Like Reply
Voyager on Sep 11, 2015

Standardization, people. Standardization is the key. In the documentary "102 minutes that changed America" about 9/11, the miscommunication (literally not communicating on the same emergency channels) between New York's finest and New York's bravest, the Police and the Fire Dept., was responsible for not evacuating the second WTC tower in time.

Like Reply
- Lorenzo on Sep 11, 2015
  
  Don't believe everything you see/hear in a documentary. That one gave short shrift to an engineers' report that noted two-thirds of the people in both towers had evacuated by ignoring the 9-1-1 instructions to sit tight and wait for rescue. They also ignored all the BS rules of evacuation by using the still-operable elevators, and ignored Hollywood's standard depiction of every-man-for-himself chaos. People organized themselves in a well executed calm, orderly evacuation, with the able bodied helping the elderly and less mobile into elevators and down stairs. While miscommunication between police and fire needs to addressed, it really didn't make much difference. Better fire retardant on the structural members that could have given rescuers more time would have helped a lot more.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

SCE to AUX All that lift makes for an easy rollover of your $70k truck.
SCE to AUX My son cross-shopped the RAV4 and Model Y, then bought the Y. To their surprise, they hated the RAV4.
SCE to AUX I'm already driving the cheap EV (19 Ioniq EV).$30k MSRP in late 2018, $23k after subsidy at lease (no tax hassle)$549/year insurance$40 in electricity to drive 1000 miles/month66k miles, no range lossAffordable 16" tiresVirtually no maintenance expensesHyundai (for example) has dramatically cut prices on their EVs, so you can get a 361-mile Ioniq 6 in the high 30s right now.But ask me if I'd go to the Subaru brand if one was affordable, and the answer is no.
David Murilee Martin, These Toyota Vans were absolute garbage. As the labor even basic service cost 400% as much as servicing a VW Vanagon or American minivan. A skilled Toyota tech would take about 2.5 hours just to change the air cleaner. Also they also broke often, as they overheated and warped the engine and boiled the automatic transmission...
Marcr My wife and I mostly work from home (or use public transit), the kid is grown, and we no longer do road trips of more than 150 miles or so. Our one car mostly gets used for local errands and the occasional airport pickup. The first non-Tesla, non-Mini, non-Fiat, non-Kia/Hyundai, non-GM (I do have my biases) small fun-to-drive hatchback EV with 200+ mile range, instrument display behind the wheel where it belongs and actual knobs for oft-used functions for under $35K will get our money. What we really want is a proper 21st century equivalent of the original Honda Civic. The Volvo EX30 is close and may end up being the compromise choice.