In an article titled, “Wireless Transportation Disruption,” veteran industry analyst Roger Lanctot hammers Washington, D.C.-based trade group ITS America and its affiliates as being “disconnected from automakers, wireless carriers, and technology companies.”
The reason? The reallocation of wireless spectrum by the FCC last year to shift away from dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) in favor of cellular-based V2X. ITS America, their client state DOTs and suppliers have been resistant to this change, Lanctot said.
ITS America, along with American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., District Court to enjoin the FCC, challenging its authority to reallocate the wireless spectrum, Lanctot said. “ITS America is simultaneously seeking reimbursement for DOT’s that have spent their own money on DSRC installations. One estimate from the USDOT puts the cost of decommissioning 67 existing operational DSRC installations and 65 sites currently in planning at $645 million,” Lanctot said.
He said that ITS America member suppliers Kapsch and Siemens, as well as Applied Information, are offering to buyback DSRC equipment from DOTs. “All of this is to suggest that ITS America is not only out of touch with shifts in technology and the market, it is losing touch with its own members,” Lanctot said.
