EC sets aside spectrum for 'intelligent' cars

The European Commission has reserved 30MHz of radio spectrum so cars can communicate with each other.

The spectrum, which lies in the 5.9GHz band, will also be useful for cars talking to wirelessly enabled roadside infrastructure such as warning signs, the Commission said in a statement on Tuesday. The development of such 'smart vehicle communication systems', or 'co-operative systems', is integral to the Commission's ongoing campaign against road accidents and traffic jams.

"Today's Commission decision is a decisive step towards meeting the European goal of reducing road accidents. Getting critical messages through quickly and accurately is a must for road safety," the EU's telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, said in the statement. "We should also keep in mind that with 24 percent of Europeans' driving time spent in traffic jams, the costs caused by congestion could reach €80bn [£63bn] by 2010. So, clearly, saving time through smart vehicles' communications systems means saving money."

In examples given by the Commission, a car detecting a slippery patch in the road could pass that information on to all cars located nearby, or a traffic management centre could use roadside transmitters to relay road closure information to passing cars.

National regulatory authorities are expected to set aside the spectrum within the next six months. However, according to the Commission, the decision to earmark the radio spectrum for cars does not mean existing users of the spectrum — such as amateur radio enthusiasts — will be thrown off the relevant frequencies.