ATSSA Signal May June 2020

The Signal | May/June 2020 17 Innovation FCC’s shared spectrum plan raises safety concerns Roadway safety advocates express opposition By Emily Freehling for The Signal It took more than 60 years to build the American InterstateHighway System, which is heralded around the world as one of the greatest public infrastructure projects of all time. ButwhatiftheU.S.governmenthadbecome frustrated that the systemwasn’t inplace after 20 years and sold all of the rights-of- way needed to build it? That analogyhasbeenusedby state trans - portationofficials as theywatcha federal rulemakingprocess thathas raisedalarms within the transportation safety industry. TheFederal CommunicationsCommission (FCC) inDecember votedunanimously to look at reallocating the 5.9 GHz band of spectrum—a wireless band commonly referredtoas the “safetyspectrum,”which was set aside in 1999 for traffic-safety- related purposes. The FCC’s proposal would open 45 out of 75 megahertz of this spectrum to “unli - censed uses”—think WiFi hotspots and other expansions of wireless broad - band services. The upper 30megahertz would remain reserved for transporta - tion safety uses. Supporters of this proposal include cable operatorsandWiFi proponentswhoargue that the current limitationson the5.9GHz band inhibit the growth of 5G and many WiFi-enabled capabilities. ATSSA and many other roadway safety advocates—including the Department of Defense and theHouse Committee on Transportationand Infrastructure—have spoken out against the proposal. They argue that this entire spectrum represents a virtual right-of-way for build - ing transportation communications infra - structure—the only foothold these uses have in a growing amount of spectrum being consumed byWiFi—and that keep - ing that right-of-way reserved is the only way to achieve the life-saving potential of connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technology. “The Commission risks putting American motorists’, passengers’, pedestrians’, bicy - clists’, motorcyclists’, and road construc - tion workers’ lives at risk,” Roger Wentz, then president & CEO of ATSSA, said in comments on the proposal filed in the Federal Register onMarch 2. The FCC accepted public comments on theproposal inFebruary andearlyMarch. The comment replyperiod closedApril 27. Fromhere, it isunclearhoworwhenthings will unfold, but thosewatching theprocess hope the commission will conduct more research, significantly revise its proposal, or put the process on hold altogether to avoidwhat they say couldbe devastating impacts to efforts to save lives through what’s known as “vehicle-to-everything,” or V2X, connectivity. “V2Xtechnologieshavean incrediblepoten - tial to save thousands of lives and drive us ever closer toour goal of zero fatalities onU.S. roads,” saidNathanSmith, ATSSA’s vice president of Government Relations. “This goal is put into jeopardywith the real - location of the spectrum.” PROGRESS CHALLENGING FROM THE START The FCC first set aside the 5.9 GHz band in1999 for thedevelopment of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) to support V2X connectivity,meant to allow vehicles to communicatewith eachother and with roadway infrastructure. In a fact sheet issued with its notice of proposed rulemaking, the FCC argues that, two decades later, this reserved spectrum “has not lived up to its poten - tial,” and should therefore be examined for reallocation. TimDrake, vicepresident for public policy at the Intelligent Transportation Society “Unfortunately, the FCC seems to be acting at a time when we are actually pretty close to being able to realize some of those big safety benefits.” – TimDrake, Vice President for Public Policy, ITS America