U.S. DOT Aims to Kickstart Moribund V2X ProgressU.S. DOT Aims to Kickstart Moribund V2X Progress

The U.S. government took a step toward breaking the Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) logjam with the release of a plan to gradually roll out, test, and deploy the necessary technologies across the vehicle fleet and highway infrastructure over the next dozen years.

The U.S. Department of Transportation issued Saving Lives with Connectivity: A Plan to Accelerate V2X Deployment as a blueprint for the maturation of this promising technology. To back that plan, the U.S. DOT also issued grants to research the outcome of planned V2X deployment to guide future expansion of the technology.

As the report’s executive summary reminds us, the goal of this technology is the elimination of traffic fatalities. “A powerful tool for achieving this ambitious, long-term goal is vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, which enables vehicles to communicate with each other, with other road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, individuals with disabilities, and other vulnerable road users, and with roadside infrastructure, through wirelessly exchanged messages.

The report’s goal is to galvanize stakeholders into action, coordinating their efforts and providing funding for three benefit/cost case studies to be conducted by Maricopa County, Ariz., the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, and the Utah Department of Transportation.

Related:Audi C-V2X School Safety Tech Provides School Bus Alerts

The plan has three phases; Short-Term Goals, covering 2024-2028; Medium-Term Goals, covering 2029-2031; and Long-Term Goals, covering 2032-2036. For each phase, there are four areas of interest: Infrastructure Deployments, Vehicles, Spectrum and Interoperability, and Benefits and Technical Analysis. Each of these areas has specific metrics to achieve during each phase.

Infrastructure Deployments

For Short-Term Goals’ Infrastructure Deployments, the aim is for the National Highway System to achieve 20 percent deployment of V2X technology. The top 75 metro areas are slated to have 25 percent of their signalized intersections V2X enabled. The plan seeks 12 interoperable, cybersecure deployments, and 20 grants to at least ten states using the 5.9 GHz frequency band (this encompasses frequencies between 5.895 GHz and 5.925 GHz).

All of these benchmarks notch upward in each successive level. That means deploying V2X infrastructure to half the National Highway System and covering half the top 75 metro area intersections by 2031 while demonstrating 25 interoperable, cybersecure deployments. The Medium-Term Goals also include achieving V2X in 40 percent of the nation’s intersections.

Related:5G Would Add a New Dimension to Automotive V2X

The Long-Term Goals aim to have the entire National Highway System covered, 85 percent of top-75 metro intersections enabled and 75 percent of all intersections enabled by 2036. The number of secure, interoperable deployments is planned to double to 50.

Vehicles

On the Vehicle side, the plan calls for at least two OEMs to commit to offering 5.9 GHz-capable vehicles by 2028. The next stage is for five different vehicle models to be offered by 2031 with three active deployments generating Infrastructure Owner-Operator data that is used by at least two production vehicles. Four suppliers and three OEMs should be demonstrating connectivity by then too. Finally, the Long-Term Goals call for 6 OEM carmakers to have 5.9 GHz-capable production vehicles for safety use cases with 20 different models supporting V2X.

DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION

Spectrum and Interoperability

In the area of Spectrum and Interoperability, the DOT’s plan seeks two Security Credential Management System (SCMS) providers to demonstrate their interoperable security credentials management and for three device suppliers and two or more OEMs to demonstrate their interoperability with it by 2028. During this same Short-Term Goals period, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to complete its second Report and Order on the 5.9 GHz frequency band.

Related:Audi's V2X Research is Paying Off for Work Zone Traffic Safety

Come 2031, the DOT wants five V2X use cases demonstrated in the 5.9 GHz band and five more demonstrating beyond 5.9 GHz, using other network-based technologies. They also aim to have 20 public agencies able to demonstrate interoperability. Two providers should use interoperable SCMZ credentials and there should be 10 certified devices available on the market.

In the final Long-Term Goals phase, the intent is to have those 5 V2X use cases be operational in all 50 states and the five beyond 5.9 GHz use cases working in five states, with 20 certified devices available.

Benefits and Technical Assistance

For Benefits and Technical Assistance, the DOT is targeting the three newly funded benefit/cost case studies mentioned above, one of which will focus on addressing the safety of vulnerable road users during the 2024-2028 Short-Term period. They also seek 25 active members in the Accelerating V2X Cohort and for there to be ten regional hands-on training events on secure, interoperable connectivity for the systems.

By 2031, the goal is for there to be six use cases documenting V2X benefits and costs, two of which should account for vulnerable road users. There should also be 50 active members in the Accelerating V2X Cohort, with them issuing a progress report on their work. During the final phase, the target is ten deployments that have accumulated five years of benefit/cost data and for now-75 active Accelerating V2X Cohort members pooling money to fund projects.

“The Plan was drafted and advanced with collaboration across public and private partnerships,” said DOT Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and Chief Scientist Dr. Robert C. Hampshire. “It provides stakeholders with vital information to enable a safe, efficient, and sustainable transportation system through the national, widespread deployment of interoperable V2X technologies. The Plan will accelerate investment, research, and deployment in V2X ‘market certainty.’”

With a degree of market certainty in place and three cost/benefit studies funded to document the results of V2X projects, the technology should begin to move beyond the novelty of Audi’s traffic light notification system in its cars.