U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issues statement on safety value of 5.9 GHz spectrum

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
24 October 2018

"Preserving the 5.9 GHz band for transportation communications is essential to public safety today and in the future. The automotive industry and municipalities are already deploying V2X technology and actively utilizing all seven channels of the 5.9 GHz band. There are more than 70 active deployments of V2X communications with thousands of vehicles already on the road. This technology has the potential to improve infrastructure, safety and efficiency as the Department works to make road travel and future transportation significantly safer.

As noted in the Department’s recent AV 3.0 guidance, the three-phase research plan currently underway was developed collaboratively with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce to explore spectrum sharing technology that maintains priority use for vehicle communications. The three phases of the test plan are interdependent and ongoing, and the testing will show whether unlicensed devices can safely operate in the 5.9 GHz band. With lifesaving safety capabilities at stake, the Department maintains that all three phases of research must be completed before any decisions about spectrum reallocation can be made.

The U.S. DOT will continue to work closely with the FCC and NTIA to utilize the 5.9 GHz band for public safety applications and vehicle safety communications."