The American Association of State highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) have sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the agency’s plan to reallocate swaths of the 5.9 gigahertz wireless communication spectrum to non-transportation users.
The organizations said they took action to ensure vehicle to everything, or V2X, communication can safely continue operating through the 5.9 GHz band.
In November 2020, the FCC decided to shift 60 percent of the 5.9 GHz spectrum to unlicensed, non-transportation uses while preserving the full 75-megahertz band within the 5.9 GHz spectrum for transportation communications. The AASHTO and ITS America lawsuit seeks to reverse that decision.
“Keeping people safe is the top priority for every state department of transportation,” said Jim Tymon, AASHTO’s executive director. “We believe the FCC ruling has undermined state DOTs’ ability to utilize the 5.9 GHz safety frequency as it was intended to be used.”
The transportation industry roundly panned the FCC’s 5.9 GHz decision due to its impact on vehicle safety efforts.
“The leaders of all 50 state DOTs, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are unanimous in their support for preserving the 5.9 GHz wireless spectrum for transportation-only usage,” noted AASHTO’s Tymon in an earlier statement. “Without the full 5.9 GHz spectrum available to use for connected vehicle technologies, it will be significantly more difficult to eliminate the kinds of vehicle crashes that contribute to more than 37,000 fatalities on America’s roadways each year, as well as the safe deployment of connected and automated vehicles,” he explained.