The V2X (vehicle-to-everything) market could reach $144.38 billion by 2030, according to Verified Market Research, and that’s up from $47.53 billion in 2022. The research firm says, in general, there’s a growing demand for realtime traffic alerts and the ability to better manage traffic. Additionally, consumers, businesses, and governments are all becoming increasingly concerned about the environment and looking for ways to combat climate change by leveraging technology.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation defines V2X as the technology that allows vehicles to communicate wirelessly with the transportation infrastructure, other vehicles, and other drivers by sharing realtime information about the driving environment, thereby enabling a new level of critical situational awareness for people and vehicles alike. The NHTSA (Natl. Highway Traffic Safety Admin.), says V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication has the potential to prevent hundreds of thousands of motor vehicle crashes and the deaths too often associated with those incidents, while the U.S. DoT (Dept. of Transportation) describes V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) as “the next generation of ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems),” because V2I tech captures vehicle-generated data and facilitates a multi-way conversation among the different parts of the very complex, moving puzzle that is the traffic and roadway transportation network.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation says a key hurdle for the widescale deployment of V2X technologies in the U.S. is regulatory uncertainty. To help the industry overcome this hurdle, the alliance recently released its latest policy agenda advising on the road ahead for V2X. Several of the 10 new policy recommendations include spectrum-related suggestions, like resolving any interference issues that could hinder V2X operations in the upper 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band from unlicensed operation in the lower 45 MHz of the band, in addition to establishing a reimbursement program for V2X licensees transitioning from the lower 45 MHz to the upper 30 MHz. The alliance also advises stakeholders like vehicle manufacturers and infrastructure operators to convene to standardize messaging and application prioritization within the reduced spectrum allocation. It also suggests federal government agencies work with the NTIA (Natl. Telecommunications and Information Admin.) and other industry stakeholders to identify additional suitable spectrum for V2X in the years to come.
Funding-related policy recommendations include prioritizing V2X infrastructure within existing transportation funding resources and ensuring V2X is incorporated into and prioritized within government-funded smart city programs. The alliance also suggests the DoT expands its Connected Vehicle Pilot Program to focus on widescale V2X deployment and promotes the inclusion of V2X as a recommended safety technology under the NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program. In the realm of obtaining further knowledge that will help foster V2X innovation, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation is pressing for an assessment that would help identify any additional government policies that could help support V2X, and it’s asking the U.S. government develop a comprehensive national V2X strategy for the future.
V2X is worth the effort. The promise of reducing road traffic, thereby helping U.S. citizens take back their time, plus the promise of slashing carbon emissions, and—most importantly—the possibility of saving lives is tremendous. The policy recommendations from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation could lead to solutions for key V2X hurdles by focusing on solving spectrum issues, addressing funding challenges, further educating stakeholders, and getting stakeholders aligned with a central vision for the future.
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