NHTSA Rulemaking Notice on Connected Vehicles Seen Being Released 'Soonish'

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rulemaking notice on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) systems could be issued "soonish," said Toyota North America Director-Technology and Innovation Policy Hilary Cain Wednesday evening at an FCBA spectrum sharing CLE seminar. "We are hopeful and optimistic it will make its appearance in the next couple weeks." An NHTSA spokesman told us Thursday the NPRM "is coming soon." Some have criticized White House review of that NPRM as holding up FCC development of the 5.9 GHz band (see 1609010077).

Toyota late last year in Japan released models featuring V2V systems and wants to bring that technology to the U.S. market, Cain said. "Product plans in the U.S. are on hold" due to regulatory uncertainty, she said. The FCC received five prototypes of dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) systems designed to curb traffic accidents and is reviewing protocols for evaluating them while also working with NHTSA on the test plan, said Matthew Hussey, associate chief-policy, FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. The test plan will be in three phases: bench testing in a lab, limited field testing, then comprehensive field testing, he said.

The meeting also saw jousting over the rival DSRC proposals of spectrum sharing as championed by Cisco, and rechannelization as pushed by parties by parties like Qualcomm. "Despite some of the rhetoric out there ... it is more about how we can share" than whether sharing should happen, Cain said, saying "we don't think" rechannelization will work. As DOT finalizes its test plan, Cain said, "I think they are coming along with us" on sharing. But the Cisco-backed plan carries dangers of packet collision that could lead to real collisions, said Christopher Szymanski, Broadcom director-product marketing and government affairs.

Much talk involved aspects of LTE-unlicensed/Wi-Fi coexistence. Wireless carriers increasingly offload substantial portions of their traffic onto unlicensed spectrum, but a chief concern is whether the FCC "will go too far" in promoting sharing, said Laura Stefani, wireless and technology lawyer at Fletcher Heald.

The FCC has been clear it hopes for industry-driven sharing solutions for LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence, Hussey said. Speakers said that approach in the 3.5 GHz band could be a model for future such spectrum sharing regimes.

Ericsson plans to work with third-party test labs on details of execution of the LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence test plan the Wi-Fi Alliance issued in September (see 1609210069), said Jared Carlson, North America vice president-government affairs and public policy. The company also is working toward approval of a device certified licensed-assisted access (LAA), he said: "We are very close." Meanwhile, the company is involved in LTE-U demonstrations around the globe -- efforts that could have gone on months ago in the U.S. if not for the regulatory regime here, Carlson said. Globally, "there doesn't seem to be a problem," Carlson said. "In the U.S., it gets to be a major problem."

Speakers extensively discussed ongoing development work on spectrum access systems (SAS) for frequency coordination. Wireless Bureau Assistant Chief-Mobility Division Paul Powell said the FCC is working on an SAS approval process and reviewing applications for prospective SAS administrators in the 3.5 GHz shared band. Senior Policy Counsel Staci Pies said Google -- one of those applicants -- has an SAS administration test in Kansas City and hopes to try elsewhere.

The FCC issued a public notice on protecting incumbents in the 3.5 GHz band (see 1608190049), and other PNs are in the works for the band involve such topics as fixed satellite service registration and auction procedures, Powell said. SAS systems could evolve beyond frequency coordination uses to helping create a spectrum marketplace that works more easily than the secondary market rules employed today, said Kurt Schaubach, Federated Wireless chief technology officer. Powell said as the FCC looks at equipment certification, that process will have an additional requirement of SAS interface, necessitating that equipment be tested for SAS functionality.