As cities, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers have experimented with connected vehicles, they have generally used a two-way wireless capability for medium- to short-range transmissions. In a Federal Register notice, the Department of Transportation is seeking comments on how technology advances might affect the deployment of dedicated short-range communications for connected-vehicle transmissions.
These V2X communications — which include vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-pedestrian — transmit in-vehicle sensor data on location, speed and acceleration several times per second. That data is sent to other DSRC-enabled vehicles and devices to help prevent collisions and make automated and autonomous driving possible.
State and local governments have embarked on a number of connected vehicle pilots that use DSRC, including a program in Denver that put DSRC-enabled roadside units on the 400 acres along I-70 connecting the city to Denver International Airport. A fiber connection transmits the data from the RSUs to the traffic management center, which determines if any alerts need to be sent to the driver, and back to the vehicle in less than one second. Columbus, Ohio, which won the DOT Smart City Challenge, is also using DSRC units along the roadside and in vehicles to collect data for real-time decision-making and long-term planning.
Federal Register Notice of Request for Comments: V2X Communications, 26 Dec 2018