The NHTSA Issues Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which proposes to create a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 150 to require light vehicles to have Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication capability and to specify minimum performance requirements for V2V devices and messages.

On August 20, 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published in the Federal Register (Vol. 79, Number 161, Docket No. NHTSA-2014-0022) an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) which advances the early 2014 announcement of the decision to move on the regulatory process for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication systems for light vehicles. Concurrent with the ANPRM it was announced that the NHTSA research report "Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications: Readiness of V2V Technology for Application" was available. This report includes analysis of the Department's research findings in several key areas including technical feasibility, privacy and security, and preliminary estimates on costs and safety benefits.

Although the NHTSA invites comments on all aspects of the research report, they included specific areas for comments and questions:

1. Safety Need - how to use the test beds to improve estimates of effectiveness, costs, benefits; interest in fitting private/public fleets with V2V; did NHTSA analysis correctly identify crashes that V2V can assist in reducing; will V2V safety applications evolve; is NHTSA’s preliminary analysis of V2V potential accurate; is there a better technology than V2V
2. NHTSA's Exercise Of Its Legal Authority To Require V2V- limit authority to devices with substantial use in conjunction with motor vehicles; roadside infrastructure for use with one vehicle rather than many at once; existing authority for mandating FMVSS dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) devices and safety applications
3. What’s Necessary For DSRC To Work- alternatives to DSRC; need to modify descriptions; additional elements needed for Basic Safety Messages (BSMs); manufacturers choose warnings; drivers able to modify or turn off warnings; NHTSA specify technical standards to insure compatibility; cell phones as an option; current interoperability standards mature enough; planned work on voluntary interoperability standards; V2V devices require two DSRC radios required – one for safety and one for security; sharing the 5.9 GHz band; spectrum sharing affect the business and deployment approaches; can message congestion be managed; DSRC last the life of the vehicle; will mandating V2V on new vehicles promote aftermarket development; will aftermarket be Vehicle Awareness Devices (VAD) or more integrated retrofit devices; apply to vehicles over 10,000 # GVWR; how to globally harmonize
4. Safety Applications That V2V Could Facilitate- are NHTSA's preliminary findings and conclusions accurate; what V2V applications are likely to be implemented
5. Public Acceptance- are NHTSA's preliminary assessment of public acceptance accurate; any public or industry issues not discussed in the report; how to educate public about security and privacy aspects of V2V
6. Privacy Considerations- the NHTSA will seek public comment on forthcoming Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)
7. V2V Communications Security- is machine-to-machine Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI) security system feasible and adequate; is a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) for taking devices not functioning properly off-line necessary; does the V2V system create a new threat to controlling or manipulating a vehicle; could a threat be introduced by remote code execution; how to mitigate security threats and implement self-certification or third party audit or testing; does absence of encryption of BSM pose security threat; would using conventional manufacturers’ methods for updating consumer electronics pose a security threat to the V2V system; possibility of cyber-attack across the entire fleet
8. Liability- is the NHTSA’s assessment of liability accurate
9. Preliminary Cost Estimates- are the NHTSA preliminary cost estimates reasonably representative; although specific applications are not required, what are development and unit costs of safety applications
10. Preliminary Benefits Estimates- how can the simulations be improved; if simulation is not feasible, what are the alternatives; other possible real world testing; how should NHTSA weigh simulation versus real world testing; additional safety applications; provide evidence of environmental and mobility V2V benefits; how to factor in the number of V2V equipped vehicles on the road if mandated on new vehicles only; if it is a possibility, how to examine driver over-reliance on the technology; how to factor rapidly evolving safety technology into the benefits attributable to V2V; how do self-driving cars factor into the V2V benefits; NHTSA believes that without a mandated requirement, V2V would not develop or would develop very slowly, is that your view.

The NHTSA will use responses to this ANPRM along with the research report to develop a regulatory proposal. Additionally, the NHTSA will issue a Request for Information (RFI) seeking comments on a Security Credential Management System (SCMS). When issued, the RFI will be available in Docket No. NHTSA-2014-0023.

Comments regarding this ANPRM must be received by NHTSA by October 20, 2014.