NHTSA Proposes Mandating V2V Communications

The FCC has been studying whether cable Wi-Fi using unlicensed spectrum and widespread intelligent vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, which has a license to use the spectrum, can coexist in the 5.9 GHz band—the FCC thinks they can. The FCC may have to put the pedal to the metal.

The Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has put out an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) proposing to require all new passenger cars and light trucks be capable of talking to each other to help avoid and mitigate crashes. NHTSA concludes that, without a mandate, the market would not develop on its own, or at least not fast enough, because there would not be any benefit to early adopters. "NHTSA believes that no single manufacturer would have the incentive to build vehicles able to 'talk' to other vehicles, if there are no other vehicles to talk to – leading to likely market failure without the creation of a mandate to induce collective action," NHTSA said in the notice.

NHTSA signaled in February it planned to take the step, but now the proposal is official.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.