Automakers, equipment manufacturers and state Departments of Transportation have asked the FCC for a waiver of its current 5.9 GHz rules so they can start deploying the cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology the FCC anticipated in freeing up other spectrum in the band, which had been reserved for vehicle-to-vehicle communications--for 5G.
The FCC voted unanimously back in 2020 -- under former FCC chairman Ajit Pai -- to free up the lower 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for wireless 5G broadband while retaining the remaining upper 30 MHz for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, signaling that rather than the "long-stalled" DSRC V2V technology, it would be the new C-V2X technology.
Also: FCC Defends Freeing up V2V Spectrum for WiFi
In filing the joint request for waiver of the rules, the parties said the FCC was spot on in anticipating C-V2X and that there was a need to "immediately deliver C-V2X safety services to American travelers, especially as deployments accelerate in other regions of the world," services it called "state-of-the-art roadway safety."
They said it makes no sense to apply rules meant for a technology that is being sunset. ■
