WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 5-0 on Wednesday to split a key spectrum block set aside for auto safety to accommodate the growing number of wireless devices, even as the U.S. Transportation Secretary warned it could result in “thousands more deaths” in future traffic accidents.
The FCC, over the objections of automakers and some U.S. agencies, finalizes a plan announced last year to divide a block of the 5.9 GHz spectrum band that was reserved in 1999 for automakers to develop technology to allow vehicles to talk to each other, but has so far gone largely unused.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
