WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band can be used for the intelligent transportation system.
“The FCC’s action carefully balances the need for spectrum flexibility with the statutory requirements for national interoperability. The commission’s decision is a major step which will initiate a robust nationwide deployment of ITS services for the delivery of various ITS public-safety applications,” said Neil Schuster, president and chief executive officer of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America.
ITS includes both devices in cars and stationary units used to help with traffic flow and safety. Some ITS uses currently available include toll-lane authorizations such as E-Z Pass along the Eastern corridor, which allow users to wirelessly and electronically pay toll amounts.
It is hoped as ITS is further developed that traffic will flow better and lives will be saved. “It is always exciting when technology touches lives and even more so when technology saves lives,” said FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
ITS America said the FCC’s rules would allow for the deployment of products and services to further the “zero fatalities/zero delays,” which commits ITS America to abandon the current acceptable levels of highway fatalities, injuries, and delays.
A Department of Transportation official attending the FCC’s meeting said it might be a decade before the full vision of ITS can be realized because it requires vehicle-embedded devices. The official, who declined to be named, does not expect these devices to be mandated but rather he expects the Transportation Department to continue to work with automobile manufacturers to include the devices in new vehicles.
