By Mike Spector
A revamped Cadillac CTS sedan hits U.S. roads next year as the
first vehicle on sale with wireless technology for chatting with
other cars--a feature experts say will make travel substantially
safer.
Unfortunately, the Cadillac will have few other cars to talk
to.
After 16 years of having its own band of airwaves set aside as a
wireless lane for vehicle-to-vehicle communications, or V2V, the
auto industry has yet to use it. Most auto makers are testing
connected vehicles, but General Motors Co. is the only auto maker
to disclose a firm plan to launch one for U.S. drivers.
Impatient with the progress and desirous of more spectrum for
their own needs, cable, telecommunications and other technology
companies want auto makers to cough up a portion of these airwaves.
To that end, networking firm Cisco Systems Inc. joined car
companies earlier this month to brief Federal Communications
Commission staff on plans to start working together soon on testing
whether the airwaves can successfully be shared.
Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx also said
regulators would propose a rule by the end of this year mandating
auto makers produce V2V-equipped vehicles at some
point--accelerating a previous government timeline. He also
committed to regulators completing a "preliminary test plan" of
their own on connected vehicles sharing spectrum with other
unlicensed users within a year of the auto industry making
production-ready devices available for testing.
While opening up these airwaves could help unclog the
information superhighway, auto makers say giving unused spectrum to
other mobile devices is a risky move, potentially interfering with
airwaves needed for vehicles and infrastructure to send collision
warnings once V2V is more widely deployed.
"Latency kills," said John Bozzella, a former Chrysler executive
who is now chief executive at the Association of Global Automakers,
a Washington advocacy group representing Toyota Motor Corp., Honda
Motor Co. and other car makers. "There can't be any amount of time
between your vehicle and mine. There can't be any buffering."
The auto industry has placed a big bet on the promise of V2V.
Using signals similar to Wi-Fi, the technology is designed to
reduce the likelihood of human error by alerting the car to an
array of traffic conditions, among them icy roads, stalled
vehicles, lane closures, crashes up ahead and when another vehicle
is entering an intersection. Vehicles could also communicate with
traffic lights and road sensors to cut down on traffic jams, fuel
use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Getting the sprawling U.S. car fleet to the point where Mr.
Bozzella's warnings can be tested could take several more years.
There are 250 million vehicles on U.S. roads, most with no
capability to interact with other cars or infrastructure.
Federal regulators are working on rules to take V2V from the lab
to the road, but also fielding pressure from corporations such as
Comcast Corp. that want some of the wireless space reserved for
auto makers since 1999.
Some lawmakers, responding to clogged wireless networks and
explosive demand for faster Wi-Fi coverage, are eager to tackle the
problem.
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is
among lawmakers introducing legislation to require the FCC to study
sharing an upper portion of the auto industry's 5.9-gigahertz band.
Proposed with Cory Booker (D., N.J.), the bill would require the
FCC to consult with the Transportation Department, among others, on
whether Wi-Fi users can have spectrum without compromising V2V's
effectiveness. Similar legislation has been introduced in the
House.
Earlier this year, two FCC commissioners said sharing of the
spectrum among auto makers and other companies should be explored.
The FCC has allowed Wi-Fi users before to share other previously
reserved pockets of spectrum, including an action in April to open
airwaves used by military radars.
Rick Chessen, senior vice president of law and regulatory policy
at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association,
representing Comcast and other big companies, said other devices
can mingle on the auto industry's airwaves.
He noted auto makers haven't produced viable connected vehicles
to sell. "Rather than engage in a solution that benefits everyone,
the car industry continues to stonewall and use scare tactics."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is lining up
behind the auto makers' desire to keep the V2V lane uncorrupted.
The Transportation Department estimates connected vehicles could
address 4.5 million crashes annually, or about 80% of accidents
involving unimpaired drivers.
"It's about making sure no intrusion into that spectrum is going
to cost a life," said Mark Rosekind, the NHTSA's chief. "The burden
really should be on: Show us the data that sharing is not going to
be a risk to safety."
Taxpayers and auto makers have spent nearly $1 billion combined
researching and readying a connected-vehicles rollout, but much of
the action is relegated to testing. The University of Michigan,
joining with local government, is preparing to deploy 20,000
connected vehicles in the Detroit area as soon as 2017.
Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com
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