Worldwide shipments of connected vehicles, including "options" for factory-embedded and aftermarket connectivity, will reach 51.1 million units this year, a 45.4 percent increase from 2018, reported IDC Thursday. It expects shipments to reach 76.3 million units in 2023, based on 16.8 percent five-year compound annual growth rate, it said. IDC predicts that nearly 70 percent of new light-duty vehicles and trucks globally will be shipped with embedded connectivity in 2023, including 90 percent of new vehicles in the U.S.: "The automotive ecosystem is positioning the vehicle as the next, emerging digital platform. Deploying embedded or aftermarket connectivity at scale will be key to unlocking its potential."

The FCC OK'd General Motors pulling the company's waiver bid to not provide some real-time texting functions (see 1904260002), via an order Friday by Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Patrick Webre. It's in docket 15-178. Some dozen groups backed the automaker's reversal to not seek exemption of providing some RTT in Cruise shared autonomous vehicles (see 1905080055).

Retain use of the entire 5.9 GHz band for auto-safety services, the Association of Global Automakers asked the FCC. Chairman Ajit Pai had been poised to circulate an NPRM on the band last week, but postponed seeking a vote after the Department of Transportation asked for a delay (see 1905150053). The automakers asked the FCC to keep five principles in mind. Ensure a “fact-based approach for evaluating interoperability; evolution and backwards compatibility; and the potential coexistence of multiple [vehicle-to-everything] technologies in a technology-neutral manner,” the group filed, posted Friday in docket 13-49.The band plan should guard against interference to existing services and require that all V2Z-equipped vehicles and infrastructure are able to provide for "communication of the Basic Safety Message,” the group said: “The regulatory framework must promote investment in deployment of lifesaving V2X services for the benefit of the driving public now.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel raised concerns on why the commission has put off an NPRM on the 5.9 GHz automotive safety band for a month, after the Department of Transportation asked for a delay (see 1905150053). “We need more Wi-Fi,” Rosenworcel tweeted Thursday: “We need more Wi-Fi," she typed seven times. "So how about the @FCC speed up its review of the possibilities of more Wi-Fi in the 5.9 GHz band instead of slowing it down?” The band is one of the key ones being looked by the FCC for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use.

More than 11.2 million “light vehicles” equipped with “some form” of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) telematics systems will be produced globally in 2024, and will be 12 percent of the total “fleet,” said IHS Markit Thursday. It forecasts V2X systems will be embedded in roughly 15,000 vehicles this year, increasing at a 277.5 percent compound annual growth rate through 2024. Demand for safer roads and fewer vehicular fatalities will be a “major driving force for the implementation of enhanced connectivity,” said IHS. “In the debate over which technology V2X should be based on, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) solutions lead the global automotive V2X market in the near term as it represents a proven technology with chips for system implementation readily available from several semiconductor companies.” U.S. leadership in DSRC took a blow two weeks ago when Toyota America told the FCC it would "pause its deployment" for lack of automotive industry cooperation and the uncertain "regulatory environment" around the 5.9 GHz band (see 1904290148). Now, the FCC may propose, perhaps this summer, a proceeding to look at sharing DSRC spectrum with W-Fi (see 1905150053).

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) picked Harman and Google to deliver a new connected-car “ecosystem” for vehicle owners globally, said the automaker Tuesday. “Key components” will begin debuting “in phases across global regions,” and all new vehicles “will be connected” by 2022, it said. “Off-board,” the system will use architecture based on Harman’s Ignite cloud-based platform, said FCA. “On-board,” the Android-powered system’s “app-based environment” will provide fresh content updates over the air, plus “seamless” wireless integration with Android mobile devices, it said. Harman, which Samsung bought two years ago for $8 billion (see 1703130001), launched the Harman Ignite platform at CES 2017 to integrate management of connectivity, analytics, applications and devices (see 1701040031).

A year after Toyota announced it would introduce dedicated short-range communications systems on vehicles sold in the U.S. starting in 2021 (see 1805110014), the automaker decided to “pause its deployment,” it told the FCC, posted Monday in docket 13-49. Though there continues to be “general excitement about DSRC and the benefits of widespread deployment among key stakeholders,” Toyota hasn’t seen “significant production commitments from other automakers.” The “cooperative safety benefits” won't “be fully realized without greater automotive industry commitment to deploy the technology,” it said. Toyota expressed confidence a year ago that the FCC “would implement a sharing mechanism for unlicensed operations in the 5.9 GHz band only if testing fully validated that such operations could safely occur in the band and not disrupt the current or future deployment of DSRC technology by existing licensees,” it said. But the “regulatory environment” for the 5.9 GHz band since has become “even more uncertain and unstable,” it said. In addition to the “long-standing pending proceeding” involving unlicensed operation in the band, the agency recently launched a second proceeding to explore “reallocating channels away from DSRC” to cellular vehicle to everything technology, it said. “The chance that DSRC operations could be subject to harmful interference from unlicensed operations or other technologies should they be permitted in the band, that channels used for DSRC could be reallocated after services using those channels have entered the market, or that spectrally-inefficient band fragmentation could impair the ability to expand DSRC services and applications over time creates a substantial and arguably insurmountable risk.”

Ford will factory-install modems in all new vehicles it sells in the U.S. by year-end, and in 90 percent of the cars it sells globally by 2020, said CEO Jim Hackett on a Q1 call Thursday. It’s in keeping with the “Smart Vehicles for a Smart World” theme of his CES 2018 keynote, in which he said “cities are going to be communicating back to the vehicles and vice versa,” he said. “We have the opportunity to help create a better transportation system that will improve lives.” Ford plans to “leverage this connectivity to continuously improve our vehicles and services and create better experiences for our customers,” he said. “We know this will build loyalty and deliver recurring revenue streams.” Ford has picked a third U.S. city for test-deploying autonomous vehicles (AVs) to follow Miami and Washington and expects to announce the location later in 2019, said Hackett. “We're testing in some really challenging areas,” he said when asked to explain why Ford is expanding AVs to more cities when other automakers are cutting back. “I don't want to pick on any competitor because it's not my purpose, but you could put these vehicles in places where the weather never changes,” he said. “We’ve opted into some really difficult settings” to prove AVs’ “capability,” he said. If AVs were “only destined for the L.A. freeways, you don't have to deal with dogs and baseballs running across them,” he said. General Motors also is testing AVs in big cities (see 1904260002).

Antenna technology and capabilities will be the big enabler of connected vehicle applications, said Intelsat Senior Counsel Cynthia Grady at an FCBA event Thursday. Changes in antennas' form factors -- their compactness and design -- will in turn have a big impact on the ubiquity of satellite in the connected vehicle space, she said. Driverless vehicles will rely on terrestrial data networks for their connectivity, but satellite can play a role in such things as vehicular software updates, speakers said. "You're never going to drive a car with satellite" due to latency issues, said Grady. "It's not the right choice." Grady said software updates via terrestrial networks would be cost prohibitive, plus terrestrial networks don't have satellites' universal connectivity. But satellite could play a part in passenger connectivity for uses like buses and trains, particularly in conjunction with cellular service, said lawyer Robert Koppel of Lukas LaFuria, who represents flat-panel company Kymeta. All automotive original equipment manufacturers are moving to over-the-air software updates, said Brian Daugherty, Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association chief technology officer. Citing the FCC's unified earth station/satellite licensing proposal, Koppel said as more non-geostationary orbit satellites come online, that gets flat-panel antennas into the market faster, which in turn will expand the customer base and applications for those NGSOs. But antenna pricing is such that they won't be ubiquitous on individual cars anytime soon, Koppel said. Grady said increased satellite activity in the connected vehicle marketplace will exacerbate tension between satellite and terrestrial interests over spectrum access. The satellite industry is "already tight on spectrum," she said, noting increased industry interest in higher-frequency bands like Ka even though it's more vulnerable than C band to issues like rain scatter. She said as mobile terminals shrink in size they'll need higher power, which strains the 2-degree geostationary orbit separation rules for satellites.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association formed the Connected Vehicle Infrastructure Technical Committee to develop technical specifications for roadside connected vehicle devices. The specs, designed to speed deployment of traffic control devices that communicate with vehicles, are due for completion by year-end for traffic signals, school zone beacons, pedestrian crossings and electronic devices that control the movement of vehicles and pedestrians on roadways, NEMA said. The ability for vehicles and the infrastructure to communicate with each other regardless of the type of device or underlying technology is a “key component of the connected vehicle ecosystem” said Steve Griffith, NEMA transportation industry director.