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Cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology has tremendous potential to improve automotive safety. Enhancements in the 5G standard specifically for C-V2X will dramatically increase its deployment and effectiveness.
I have to wonder if the current C-V2X chip sets will really support the services and technology we need for connected vehicles in a couple of years. We also know that DSRC and C-V2X perform similarly – i.e. there is no significant advantage (for the safety applications V2V and V2I) but there is a considerable cost difference; we are finding C-V2X devices are more than twice the cost of DSRC and require twice the bandwidth of DSRC, and who reaps this “benefit”? Referring to C-V2X as cellular is misleading since it has nothing to do with the use of cellular phones, cell towers, or cellular service providers; it is simply an alternate form of dedicated short range communications based on outdated LTE technology (3GPP LTE-14 is the current chip set – yet LET-16 is expected to be needed shortly); many of the issues associated with the deployment of C-V2X have yet to be worked out in practice. The “pilot” projects you referred to are just that – pilots of the technology, and none of them have been large scale or in the dense urban environment with a density of vehicles AND intersections. Further, the SAE standard for use of the technology has not been accepted (@ 3/22/2021) due to issues raised by extensive reliance on essential patented technology. One has to wonder why selected companies have spent more on a PR campaign promoting C-V2X than the combined deployment of connected vehicle technology. However, the C-V2X campaign has managed to delay the deployment of connected vehicle technology by at least 5 years and such uncertainty and delays continue. As you also suggested, it will be a couple of years before we see production deployment of C-V2X technology and one has to wonder if it will be obsoleted by the next generation 5G. Unlike cellphones which turn over every 3-5 years, the average vehicle life is ~14 years and the roadway [electronic] infrastructure 15-20 years. How many lives would have been saved had NHTSA proceeded with its rule-making back in 2014-2015? How many lives have been lost when you consider that DSRC technology could be approaching significant deployment by now if it had not been for the delays introduced due to deployment uncertainty promoted by the C-V2X PR campaign? This is one case where a mandate would have saved thousands of lives (>100,000). We saw several automakers try to push the market to install DSRC technology and many State DOTs and USDOT pushed to install a supporting infrastructure, but the programs never developed the needed traction due to the uncertainty promoted by the PR campaign. When asked “when is the right time to buy a new computer?” the response depends on the value today and the value of waiting for the next faster models. If the value is human life, does that make a difference?