The FCC granted Bosch and the automakers' UWB petitions and opened a rulemaking

The Federal Register published the Federal Communications Commission’s notice of proposed rulemaking on unlicensed ultra-wideband devices on November 2, after it was filed for public inspection on October 30. The item, in ET Docket No. 26-245, grants a petition for rulemaking filed by Robert Bosch LLC on June 18, 2019 and a second filed on December 18, 2025 by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the Car Connectivity Consortium, the FiRa Consortium, PROFIBUS & PROFINET International/omlox and the Ultra-Wideband Alliance. Twenty-four parties commented on the first and eight on the second.

The Commission wrote that over the past several years it had seen a sharp increase in nearly identical ultra-wideband waiver requests, particularly for outdoor keyless entry and door lock systems, vehicle and rail safety ranging systems and other precision tracking applications, all seeking relief from requirements that hand-held-category devices be hand held and not use fixed outdoor infrastructure (page 68918). It said those requests shared technical characteristics and mitigation measures, drew little or no public comment, and had produced no reports of harmful interference.

It therefore proposed a new device category for compact devices operating in mobile or fixed configurations, indoors or outdoors, subject to height limits, mounting restrictions, downward-directed emissions and limits on duty cycle, power spectral density, antenna directivity and pulse repetition frequency. Such devices would transmit only during active, event-driven communication sessions, remain idle otherwise, be barred from forming wide-area networks and keep duty cycles under one percent in any 24-hour period. The Commission also sought comment on whether to establish a class for AI-enabled ultra-wideband sensing. Comments are due December 2 and reply comments January 4, 2027.