Still a Future for Dedicated Short-Range Communications?

Super-fast 5G cellular service will debut in select markets later this year in the U.S, but there could still be a future in automotive for competing dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) technologies, reports SAE’s Automotive Engineering.

DSRC is “still alive,” asserts John Capp, General Motors Co.’s director of global safety. Speaking at this week’s SAE Government/Industry meeting in Washington, D.C., Capp notes that GM launched the industry’s first vehicle with DSRC capability last year in the 2017 Cadillac CTS sedan.

DSRC is much faster than current 4G LTE cellular systems, reducing latency from about 20 milliseconds to as little as 1 millisecond, notes AE. In the CTS, DSRC enables similarly equipped vehicles to share information, as long as they’re within 1,000 ft of each other.

But for widespread V2V and vehicle-to-infrastructure use, DSRC would require its own dedicated infrastructure and cost about $350 per vehicle. The technology received a setback last year when the U.S. Dept. of Transportation backed off previous proposals that would have mandated V2V and V2I early next decade.

Meanwhile, telecom giant AT&T announced plans earlier this month to offer 5G mobile service in a dozen U.S. markets by the end of the year. Company officials confirmed the rollout at this week’s SAE conference.

Although vehicle applications aren’t expected to start until early next decade, proponents say 5G technology will be a key enabler for next-generation automated and connected vehicles. With latency on par with DSRC, 5G offers a big advantage: it can operate over existing cell towers.