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Congress Wants AM Radio in All New Cars—Trade Groups Say That's a Mistake

posted by janrinok on Wednesday May 24 2023, @10:47AM   Printer-friendly

owl writes:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/ev-advocates-join-tech-groups-and-automakers-to-oppose-am-radio-mandate/

Congress wants to force AM into every new car for emergency alerts.

The fight over the future of AM radio got a little more heated this week as organizations representing the auto and technology industries told Congress that its plan to mandate this mode of radio wave reception is poorly conceived and will hinder progress.

AM radio has seen almost every other in-car entertainment option come and go—vinyl, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs—and it might predate just about everything other than playing "I Spy," but time is catching up with this old broadcast technology. It is starting to get left behind as new models—many of which are electric vehicles—drive off into the sunset, streaming their audio instead of modulating its amplitude.

[...] "As more and more Americans adopt electric vehicles, we must ensure that they are equipped with AM radio. AM radio is—and will remain—an essential communications channel for emergency alerts and for disseminating news and other important information to residents of our district and communities across our country. I am proud to co-lead this bipartisan legislation which would ensure that EVs continue to be equipped with this basic but critical capability," said Rep. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), another co-sponsor.

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  • (Score: 2) by owl on Wednesday May 24 2023, @03:45PM (1 child)

    by owl (15206) on Wednesday May 24 2023, @03:45PM (#1307932)

    That's what it sounds like. They don't want to adequately shield/filter their noise, and the FCC's not on the ball to force the issue.

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  • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday May 24 2023, @04:16PM

    by RS3 (6367) on Wednesday May 24 2023, @04:16PM (#1307945)

    So who's in charge of FCC? Who should be holding their feet to the fire?

    If my hunch is right, that EV makers (and others) don't want to bother with fixing RFI problems, it's obviously not just AM radio that suffers. CB radio, HAM, and probably many others I haven't thought of yet.

    My fear is: if this problem isn't clamped down on soon, by the time various people groups collaborate and demand action, it will be too late- too many electrically noisy cars out there, too expensive to fix.

    This feels far too much like the whole FAA / Boeing / MCAS / many deaths problem. Govt. agencies not doing their jobs but still raking in pay and great benefits including long-term pensions.