5G Automotive Association representatives cited “growing momentum” behind cellular vehicle-to-everything technology, in a call with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “The parties highlighted the ongoing investments in and collaboration on C-V2X Direct by major automotive manufacturers, technology companies, and telecommunications providers,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138. Ford, BMW of North America, Fiat Chrysler, Audi of America, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics were among those on the call. Wilkinson Barker’s Sean Conway, a 5GAA outside counsel, said during a Tuesday FCBA webinar the group is “trying to work with” the FCC to ensure a 4G version of C-V2X “can move forward” while also identifying spectrum for 5G use. He was one of several auto industry officials on the webinar who noted their ongoing concerns with the FCC’s 5.9 GHz band plans. The commission is eyeing revised rules that reallocate 45 MHz for Wi-Fi, with 20 reserved for C-V2X and possibly 10 MHz for dedicated short-range communications systems. Conway noted 5GAA wants FCC rules to protect C-V2X in the upper portion of the band. Alliance for Automotive Innovation Safety Director Angel Preston touted the group’s proposal for preserving 5.9 GHz (see 2004290012), saying the FCC’s current NPRM would “hinder” the U.S. globally in advancing auto safety. American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials Program Director-Planning and Policy Matthew Hardy said plans that would preserve only 25 MHz of the 75 MHz of bandwidth wouldn’t allow “enough capacity” to fully realize vehicle-to-vehicle technology’s potential. NCTA Associate General Counsel Danielle Pineres backed the NPRM, saying it strikes a “well-considered balance” that would be an improvement on the current state of operations on the band. FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Policy and Rules Division Special Counsel Howard Griboff gave off-the-record comments during the FCBA webinar.

Telenav, a provider of in-car e-commerce solutions, is partnering with parking-services company Parkopedia on an OEM technology that will enable drivers to reserve and pay for off-street parking from their vehicles. Vivid Commerce combined with Parkopedia uses in-vehicle navigation to find and reserve parking spots based on arrival times, said the companies Tuesday. It uses voice assistant and natural language technologies, they said.

The FCC granted Applied Information two more experimental licenses for testing cellular vehicle-to-everything connected vehicle applications on roads in Arlington, Texas, and Honolulu, the company said Tuesday. The licenses allow testing in "diverse transportation ecosystems,” said President Bryan Mulligan: “Among the unique applications being developed are interactions with at grade railway crossings, traffic queue warnings and dynamic speed harmonization.”

SiriusXM with 360L, the company’s newest entertainment platform, debuts in 10 model year 2021 Audi vehicles in coming months using Verizon's 4G LTE network, said the company Monday. The offering combines satellite and streaming content. A sports feature is said to make it easier to find a listener’s favorite team at game time. Smart personalization gives content recommendations based on listener’s tastes with individual vehicle profiles available for multiple drivers and passengers, it said.

OmniVision Technologies bowed an SoC for entry-level rearview cameras, it said Tuesday. The 1.3MP OX01E10 SoC offers a compact form factor and low-power consumption and can be used in a range of lighting conditions, it said. Some 42 million image sensors were shipped for rearview cameras last year, said the company.

The auto industry tried a new way to preserve 5.9 GHz for safety. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said it reached a “landmark consensus” on how the band could be used by vehicle-to-everything, cellular V2X and dedicated short-range communications systems. But industry and FCC officials said the plan from the main auto industry association likely won’t get much traction at the agency. Commissioners agreed 5-0 in December to examine revised rules, reallocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi, with 20 reserved for C-V2X and possibly 10 MHz for DSRC. “Advocates for this proposal far underestimate the resolve of this commission to reallocate a good portion of 5.9 GHz for unlicensed services,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us Tuesday: “They also suffer from 20 years of empty promises and missed opportunities. A significant and appropriate compromise is already on the table, which splits the band and reserves a portion for C-V2X and potentially for residual DSRC. The FCC will hopefully go to order on Chairman [Ajit] Pai’s proposal later this summer.” The alliance’s plan is the latest example of why it's critical the FCC “preserve the entire 5.9 GHz band for transportation safety critical technologies,” ITS America said. “We cannot wait another 20 years to put these unused airwaves to work and it's concerning that some are continuing to drag their feet,” a WifiForward spokesperson emailed. The proposal is being filed at the FCC and sent to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the alliance said. “The industry now has a firm plan for how the entire band will be used.” C-V2X would have exclusive use in the band’s upper 20 MHz, DSRC the lower 20 and the remaining 30 would be made available “on a priority basis” to next-generation DSRC and advanced C-V2X, said an alliance news release. “After five years, a single technology will be selected to use the 5.9 GHz band.” Over 10 years, technology that doesn’t prevail would be phased out, the group said.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said the auto industry committed to deploy at least 5 million radios on vehicles and roadway infrastructure within five years if the FCC preserves all 75 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for safety. “V2X communication technologies … allow vehicles to share real-time safety-critical information with each other and with infrastructure and other road users,” the alliance said Thursday: “These applications promise significant safety and societal benefits, including crash reductions that can save lives and provide economic, environmental, and transportation efficiencies.” The group made the commitment in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. DOT didn’t comment. WifiForward slammed the plan. “Even in the best case, this pledge would be ineffective,” a spokesperson emailed: “Less than 2% of all cars on the road would be equipped with one of two competing V2X technologies, which means a motorist’s chance of encountering another car equipped with a compatible V2X device in a crash-imminent situation is less than one in a hundred.” "Given that about 17 million new vehicles have been sold in the United States in each of the last five years, this is not an impressive commitment," an FCC spokesperson emailed. "It only reinforces the need for the FCC to reform the use of the 5.9 GHz band so that it is put to its best use." That "the auto industry conditions this rather modest deployment on continued control of more spectrum than they need reinforces a false choice,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “As regulators around the world have concluded, the auto industry can deploy critical V2X safety communications on the 30 megahertz at the top of the band, just as the FCC has proposed.” Commissioner Mike O'Rielly Thursday predicted the FCC could take up an order reallocating the band this summer (see 2004230059).

The FCC Wireless Bureau said Molex, which makes consumer signal boosters embedded in vehicles, can meet labeling requirements if consumers are provided information when the vehicle is delivered. The company argued that the manufacturer-installed device is “embedded inside the vehicle by the time it reaches the consumer,” so the “consumer has no access to the Device or its packaging,” the bureau said Thursday. “Because consumers would lack access to the Device or its packaging,” the alternative approach “better meets the Commission’s public interest goals,” the bureau said: Consumers must be informed of their need to register the device with their carrier, receive carrier consent and other requirements.

Evolving technologies, not dedicated short-range communications, will make the roadways safer, the Free State Foundation told the FCC in docket 19-138, posted Friday. Various state groups urged the regulator to leave DSRC intact. Commissioners agreed 5-0 in December to examine revised rules for the swath, reallocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi, with 20 MHz reserved for cellular-vehicle to everything and 10 for DSRC (see 1912180019). “The success of a network-oriented safety application like DSRC hinges upon the ubiquitous integration of that technology into all vehicles on the road,” FSF said. “That requires automobile manufacturers to build the standard into every new car -- and even then, years must pass before incompatible models exit the roadways. In the case of DSRC, unfortunately, that simply is not what we have witnessed.” The Institute of Transportation Engineers is disappointed in the FCC plan. “The proposal to reallocate more than half of the 5.9 GHz safety spectrum for unlicensed uses comes at a time when more than 36,000 people are dying on our nation’s highways each year, and more than 1.8 million were injured,” the group said. The South Dakota Department of Transportation defended DSRC: “Opportunities to radically improve the nation’s mobility, safety and economic vitality are rare, but such an opportunity is before us in preserving the 5.9 GHz spectrum for transportation.” The Center for Auto Safety said reallocating the spectrum would “inevitably further delay and imperil deployment of life-saving ... technologies.”

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials remain opposed to an FCC proposal (see 1912120058) to reallocate 45 MHz of 5.9 GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use, the groups told an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. Both organizations discussed their “intentions to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Commission on the issues presented,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-138. “ITS America noted that transportation safety is a national policy issue and that the advocates for maintaining the spectrum for transportation safety purposes are professionals who have dedicated their careers to improving the safety of the nation’s transportation network.”