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As chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I have a responsibility to ensure that actions Congress and the federal government take regarding our transportation networks contribute to, and do not detract from, public safety. That’s why I oppose the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to repurpose more than half of the 5.9 GHz radio frequency band, also known as the Safety Band.
Since 1999, the 5.9 GHz band has been reserved for dedicated short-range communications to enable vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. V2X communications, and the technologies they will enable — namely, connected vehicles — will make our transportation networks smarter, more efficient, dramatically reduce congestion, significantly increase throughput on existing infrastructure, and, most critically, make us safer. These technologies, in other words, have the potential to save lives but only if the frequencies they rely on continue to be available for V2X applications…
