Cisco To Testify Before House on Spectrum Implications Of Connected Car

A Cisco representative will be among the witnesses testifying Thursday before the House Commerce Trade Subcommittee alongside automotive interests. The hearing will focus on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, which relies on automotive-held spectrum in the upper 5 GHz that other stakeholders want to use for unlicensed purposes. In addition to Cisco Global Transportation Executive Barry Einsig, the witnesses are Peter Sweatman, director of the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute; Nat Beuse, associate administrator-vehicle safety research for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; David St. Amant, president of the Econolite Group; and Harry Lightsey, General Motors executive director-global connected customer experience. In May, the Department of Transportation, FCC and NTIA “briefed Subcommittee on Communications and Technology staff on the testing progress for V2V communications,” the GOP memo said of Commerce lawmakers' bipartisan efforts in recent months (see 1505270044): “All agencies reported that they were working together with private industry stakeholders on test devices and protocols that can be used to test whether the spectrum can be shared without disrupting vehicle communications technology. The expectation is that testing could begin sometime within the next year.” The Democratic memo raised concerns about privacy and cybersecurity inherent in this connected-vehicle technology. “The potential for capture of personally identifiable information (PII) in connected vehicles has worried the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and some consumer groups,” the Democratic memo cautioned. “In October 2014, the FTC identified several potential privacy issues stemming from V2V communications, including the ability of vehicles to track consumers’ precise geolocation over time, the ability of hackers to remotely access a car’s internal computer network, and the ability of a vehicle to track driving habits that could be used to price insurance premiums without drivers’ knowledge or consent.” The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.