On November 21, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a bipartisan and unanimous action, adopted final rules on cellular-vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology in a Second Report and Order governing technologies used to direct communication between vehicles, roadside infrastructure, and other road users to facilitate transportation safety and more efficient mobility. In the press release that accompanied the Second Report and Order, the FCC described the creation of new regulations on the use of radio spectrum for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) as a “game-changing spectrum project” that will expedite the automotive industry’s transition from dated DSRC-based technologies to C-V2X automobile safety technologies. The Second Report and Order codifies technical parameters for C-V2X technologies’ use of the upper 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band, including band use, message prioritization, and channel bandwidth. It also provides a two-year sunset period for existing Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC)-based technologies currently in use.
For the past two decades, the FCC had reserved the entire 5.9 GHz frequency band for DSRC-based technology operations related to ITS, in the expectation that they would be widely deployed across the consumer and commercial motor vehicle industries. The FCC’s approach to allocating spectrum for ITS uses changed, however, with a First Report and Order issued in November 2020. In that First Report and Order, the FCC noted that the 5.9 GHz band was being “underused” for ITS purposes. The FCC accordingly reduced the spectrum band allocated for ITS service applications to the upper 30 MHz (within the 5.895–5.925 GHz band) and opened up the lower 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band to unlicensed indoor use. This reorganization survived a court challenge (Intelligent Transp. Society of America v. FCC, 45 F.4th 206 (D.C. Cir. 2022)) and multiple Petitions for Reconsideration. The First Report and Order also recognized that ITS services increasingly rely on C-V2X technology instead of DSRC and requested comments on transitioning licensed ITS operations to C-V2X. At the time it was published, the changes proposed by the First Report and Order were hailed as a “significant mid-band win” by Commissioner Brendan Carr, who has recently been nominated by President-elect Trump to be the next chair of the FCC.
The Second Report and Order finalizes that transition. In the rulemaking, the FCC establishes general programmatic requirements for C-V2X technologies’ use of the upper 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band. The FCC further declines to incorporate the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) C-V2X standard Release 14, instead encouraging the industry to come to a consensus on adopting that standard. The Second Report and Order additionally mandates a three-tier message priority hierarchy for ITS communications, beginning with safety-of-life communications as highest priority, then public safety communications, and then finally non-priority communications. On this point, the Commission does not find a reason to define the distinction between “commercial” and “non-commercial” communications. The FCC notes agreement with commenters and applies the existing, “light touch” channel bandwidth plan to C-V2X technology as previously proposed. This plan partitions the upper 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band into three 10 MHz bandwidths within the 5.895–5.905 GHz, 5.905–5.915 GHz, and 5.915–5.925 GHz bands, respectively. However, noting the lessons of underutilization from the deployment of DSRC, the FCC forgoes the use of communication zone requirements for C-V2X.
The FCC then specifies the technical requirements for C-V2X operations, codifying parameters for power limits, antenna heights, and out-of-band emission limits for roadside units and on-board units for all RSUs and OBUs. The Commission adopts a more relaxed set of out-of-band emissions limits that are consistent with 3GPP physical layer standards.
Last, the Second Report and Order provides a two-year window to phase out DSRC operations, starting from the date of the Second Report and Order’s publication in the Federal Register. Within this two-year window, the Commission will not issue new licenses for DSRC operations and will only renew existing licenses up to the end of the phase-out period. Licensees will not be compensated or reimbursed for transition costs, and additional spectrum for ITS applications will not be allotted.
The Second Report and Order is now awaiting final publication in the Federal Register and will go into effect 60 days after its publication.
The Venable Autonomous and Connected Mobility team is available to advise on the potential legal and operational implications of these new regulations. Please contact us for further guidance.