Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) is an automobile technology designed to allow automobiles to "talk" to each other. The systems will use a region of the 5.9 GHz band set aside by the United States Congress in 1999, the unlicensed frequency also used by WiFi. The US V2V standard, commonly known as WAVE ("Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments"), builds upon the lower-level IEEE 802.11p standard.
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Radio frequencies
For Europe Commission Decision 2008/671/EC harmonises the use of the 5 875-5 905 MHz frequency band for transport safety ITS applications. In Europe V2V is standardised as ETSI ITS-G5, a standard also based on IEEE 802.11p. C-ITS, cooperative ITS, is also a term used in EU policy making, closely linked to ITS-G5 and V2V.
V2V is also known as VANET (vehicular ad hoc network). It is a variation of MANET (Mobile ad hoc network), with the emphasis being now the node is the vehicle. In 2001, it was mentioned in a publication that ad hoc networks can be formed by cars and such networks can help overcome blind spots, avoid accidents, etc. The infrastructure also participates in such systems, then referred to as V2X (vehicle-to-everything). Over the years, there have been considerable research and projects in this area, applying VANETs for a variety of applications, ranging from safety to navigation and law enforcement.
In 1999 the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated 75 MHz in the spectrum of 5.850-5.925 GHz for intelligent transport systems.
Conflict over spectrum
As of 2016, V2V is under threat from cable television and other tech firms that want to take away a big chunk of the radio spectrum currently reserved for it and use those frequencies for high-speed internet service. V2V's current share of spectrum was set aside by the government in 1999. The auto industry is trying to retain all it can saying that it desperately needs the spectrum for V2V. The Federal Communications Commission has taken the side of the tech companies with the National Traffic Safety Board supporting the position of the auto industry. Internet service provides who want the spectrum claim that self-driving cars will make extensive use of V2V unnecessary. The auto industry said it is willing to share the spectrum if V2V service is not slowed or disrupted; the FCC plans to test several sharing schemes.
Research
V2V is currently in active development by General Motors, which demonstrated the system in 2006 using Cadillac vehicles. Other automakers working on V2V include Toyota, BMW, Daimler, Honda, Audi, Volvo and the Car-to-Car communication consortium.
Regulation
Since then the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has been working with a range of stakeholders on V2X. In 2012 a pre-deployment project was implemented in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2800 vehicles covering cars, motorcycles, buses and HGV of different brands took part using equipment by different manufacturers. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) saw this model deployment as proof that road safety could be improved and that WAVE standard technology was interoperable. In August 2014 NHTSA published a report arguing vehicle-to-vehicle technology was technically proven as ready for deployment. In April 2014 it was reported that U.S. regulators were close to approving V2V standards for the U.S. market. On 20 August 2014 the NHTSA published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register, arguing that the safety benefits of V2X communication could only be achieved, if a significant part of the vehicles fleet was equipped. Because of the lacking immediate benefit for early adopters the NHTSA proposed a mandatory introduction. On 25 June 2015 the US House of Representatives held a hearing on the matter, where again the NHTSA, as well as other stakeholders argued the case for V2X.
In the EU the ITS Directive 2010/40/EU was adopted in 2010. It aims to assure that ITS applications are interoperable and can operate across national borders, it defines priority areas for secondary legislation, which cover V2X and requires technologies to be mature. In 2014 the European Commission's industry stakeholder "C-ITS Deployment Platform" started working on a regulatory framework for V2X in the EU. It identified key approaches to an EU-wide V2X security Public Key infrastructure (PKI) and data protection, as well as facilitating a mitigation standard to prevent radio interference between ITS-G5 based V2X and CEN DSRC-based road charging systems. The European Commission recognised ITS-G5 as the initial communication technology in its 5G Action Plan and the accompanying explanatory document, to form a communication environment consisting of ITS-G5 and cellular communication as envisioned by EU Member States. Various pre-deployment projects exist at EU or EU Member State level, such as SCOOP@F, the Testfeld Telematik, the digital testbed Autobahn, the Rotterdam-Vienna ITS Corridor, Nordic Way, COMPASS4D or C-ROADS. Further projects are under preparation.