Audi of America, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Qualcomm Technologies announced plans for initial deployments of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication on northern Virginia roadways, employing advanced wireless communications to enhance vehicle safety by using the same portion of the 5.9 GHz band that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed to allocate for C-V2X.
In line with the Federal Department of Transportation’s announcement to establish a First Responder Safety Pilot Program, the organisations’ combined efforts are designed to focus on improving safety for construction workers and motorists alike. The initial deployment is expected to take place on selected roadways in Virginia beginning in the third quarter of 2020.
Unique properties of basic C-V2X will be used to deliver work zone warnings on highways as well as signal timing information on approaches to signalised intersections on arterial roadways. In both cases, C-V2X communications can help deliver critical safety messages between vehicles and infrastructure with minimal latency, while less time-sensitive alerts are designed to be provided via C-V2X using the mobile network.
The initial deployments are aimed at expanding safety use cases in the vital connected vehicle safety spectrum established by the FCC, with the aim to curtail road hazards and fatalities. In a given year, traffic fatalities in the US exceed 36,0001 people yearly in the US.
This initial deployment is designed for connected car systems designed to boost safety around school buses, warn motorists about dangerous road conditions, alleviate congestion at traffic chokepoints and curbsides, help improve the performance of automated vehicles that are nearing commercialisation and even potentially let cars communicate with mobile devices to send warnings that may one day help prevent the more than 6,000 pedestrian fatalities per year.
News of the project was welcomed by FCC chairman Ajit Pai in a statement. He said the Virginia trial is taking place through an experimental licence, and the regulator hopes to complete soon the process of opening up 20 MHz in the 5.9 GHz band for C-V2X services.
