A Citizens Against Government Waste Sept. 11 event will focus on connected vehicles, 5G and the 5.9 GHz band. It's noon at the National Press Club.

Intel’s Mobileye chose Orange Business Services' IoT connectivity for the U.S., Europe, and Asia, it said Wednesday. Mobileye 8 Connect is said to “see” the road ahead through a camera lens and can be retrofitted into most vehicles. It includes collision avoidance technology based on driver behavior, environmental data and advanced real-time alert data such as recognizing pedestrians in low light, which can help drivers lower accident rates and insurance premiums, said the company. Mobileye 8 Connect will provide municipalities and utilities with data to monitor infrastructure and plan for smarter cities, it said. Orange Business Services has over 500 roaming agreements with local providers for connectivity within and between countries.

FCC staff wants comment by Sept. 16, replies by Oct. 1, on WaveSense's waiver request from sections 15.509(b) and 15.525 of commission rules for its driver-assistance technology using ultra-wideband ground-penetrating radar for "lanekeeping in challenging environmental conditions, such as snow or fog.” When a vehicle drives on a mapped road, the technology would use algorithms to match the current scan with previously captured data to determine position, the company says, per an Office of Engineering and Technology public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest and for docket 19-241. The UWB radar operates at 103-403 MHz.

Bosch said CTIA makes no new arguments beyond what's in an FCC spectrum horizons high-band order on why the regulator shouldn't reverse its refusal to make available for U.S. unlicensed use the internationally harmonized 123-140 GHz. The company "seeks a single addition to, but no other modification" to the 2019 order. Other than 120-123 GHz, the rules didn't make such a big swath available, the automotive technology manufacturer replied to the association's opposition. The company said applications could include object detection; vehicle driver state sensors; gesture control and recognition for inside vehicles; home automation systems; and high-resolution obstacle detection for industrial robots in the millimeter-wave range. Also consider, here or separately and soon, OK'ing ultra-wideband device operation (see 1908190029) including around 122 GHz, the company asked in docket 18-21. The mmWave Coalition backed CTIA's concerns on not changing the "compromise path" of creating four unlicensed bands and an experimental license for above 95 GHz. "Bosch’s use of 'internationally harmonized spectrum'" apparently refers to longstanding ITU "general allocations for various radio services rather than services rules for more detailed use," said the coalition, which includes Global Foundries, Keysight Technologies, National Instruments, Nokia and NYU Wireless, in a filing posted Tuesday: "Create transparent rules for short range large bandwidth unlicensed sensors in spectrum above 95 GHz at much lower powers than the Commission authorized in the initial unlicensed bands." CTIA declined to comment now, beyond its Aug. 15 opposition.

For Ford to put cellular vehicle-to-everything in all new models starting in 2022, it asked the FCC chief for the agency to soon OK a 5G Automotive Association waiver request (see 1906260062) for C-V2X operations in the 5.9 GHz band. Approving 5GAA's request "would help remove the most significant regulatory roadblock standing in the way" of stakeholders deploying C-V2X, Ford said representatives including Chief Government Relations Officer Mitch Bainwol told agency Chairman Ajit Pai. As regions worldwide seek to facilitate "deployment of C-V2X, a grant of 5GAA’s waiver request would help improve the global competitiveness" of the U.S. "while ensuring American consumers have access to the same modern safety technologies," the company said, posted Monday in docket 18-357. Bainwol used to run RIAA.

The FCC should complete all three testing phases before deciding if unlicensed devices in the 5.9 GHz band are OK, urged Toyota. "'Re-channelization' devices submitted to the Commission for Phase I testing were not fully capable," Toyota employees told Office of Engineering and Technology and Office of Economics and Analytics staff. "Characteristics of 160 MHz devices are different than those of 20 MHz devices and, as a result, have a greater likelihood of causing harmful interference to Dedicated Short Range Communications." Backing DSRC, the carmaker acknowledged some seek access to the band for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X), with "additional challenges for interference testing." But "existing sharing proposals are DSRC-specific and are not applicable to potential sharing with C-V2X," Toyota added. Don't fragment the band into non-interoperable vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication technologies as "interoperability is essential" here, it said, posted Friday to docket 13-49. Some at the FCC and elsewhere want at least part of the band to be used for things like Wi-Fi (see 1906040021).

Auto industry officials said it's important to preserve the full 5.9 GHz band for vehicle-to-everything safety services, in meetings with aides to FCC members. Discussion covered “recent buildout activity, including major deployments in New York, Colorado, and Utah,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 13-49. They "discussed the growth of the safety spectrum application ecosystem, including applications like truck platooning; vulnerable roadworker/cyclist/pedestrian protection; vehicle sensor sharing; and leveraging V2X to support higher levels of vehicle autonomy.” Among those represented were the Association of Global Automakers, Intelligent Transportation Society of America, Toyota, Volvo, National Safety Council, Navistar, American Trucking Association and American Highway Users Alliance. Securing America’s Future Energy, concerned about U.S. reliance on foreign oil, urged flexibility. “Connectivity is critical to solve this pressing national security challenge,” the group said: “Increasingly, it is pivotal in the adoption of electric and autonomous vehicle technologies.”

New “warning signs” abound in the decline of terrestrial-radio use in the car, reported Strategy Analytics Tuesday. SA canvassed consumers in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy and China. It found terrestrial-radio usage is in “fast decline” across all those regions. Consumers are sending “mixed signals” on their preferences for the next “must have” technology for in-car entertainment, said the researcher. “In the lengthy search for a next successor to the CD player, streaming media has shown a remarkable surge in usage and interest, relative to owned media on portable devices.”

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers urged the FCC to move quickly to give companies “certainty” in deploying dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) and other vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies in the 5.9 GHz band. Chairman Ajit Pai was ready to circulate an NPRM on the band for the June FCC meeting but postponed seeking a vote after the Transportation Department asked for a delay (see 1905150053). “A critical assumption in the U.S. DOT’s and industry’s development of DSRC-based technologies and applications was that spectrum sharing of the 5.9 GHz band with unlicensed users was not intended, and regulatory certainty would be provided by the FCC to allow a decade of research, testing, product development and deployment of safety-critical technology to mature and progress,” the alliance said Wednesday in docket 13-49: “Unfortunately, this assumption has not held true, as repeated spectrum sharing proposals by the FCC have induced ongoing uncertainty.” Meanwhile, 17 free-market oriented groups urged the FCC to tackle the band. "The time for action is now,” the groups said. “This valuable spectrum has lain fallow for 20 years, at great expense to the country. The commission should open this inquiry and ensure the spectrum is put to use expeditiously.” Citizens Against Government Waste, the Lincoln Network, American Legislative Exchange Council, Innovation Economy Institute, Tech Freedom, Institute for Liberty, American Conservative Union and Discovery Institute were among signers.

The IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee (LMSC) encouraged the FCC to give dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) a chance to deploy rather than seek comment on a 5G Automotive Association proposal to allow vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology in the band. “As the US Department of Transportation noted, in October 2018 there were already more than 70 active DSRC deployments, using all seven channels and with thousands of vehicles on the road,” LMSC said. “allowing automakers and infrastructure owner-operators to evolve their deployments to [next-generation V2X] over time will protect past and future investments in DSRC, providing a critical incentive for additional deployment of these life-saving technologies.” The group is concerned other models, like the one advocated by the 5GAA, “will undermine existing investments and discourage widespread deployment of V2X technology,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-357.