Some 3,000 vehicles equipped with wireless technology have taken to the roads in Ann Arbor in the world's
biggest field test of V2V and V2I technology (Image: GM)WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators are discussing new standards for vehicles to communicate with each other. They hope the new technology will reduce traffic accidents. If the regulation is approved, within three years, automakers will have to equip all new cars with the so-called ‘vehicle-to-vehicle’ or 'V2V' communication devices.
Using a short-range communication technology, vehicles will exchange 10 times per second vital information about location, speed, acceleration and braking. Cars will be able to calculate the hazard risk within about 300 meters and alert their drivers or even take automatic collision-avoidance action.
The drivers will be able to see, hear and even feel the hazard signals through vibration of the seat.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects the new system to reduce the number of car accidents by as much as 80 percent, especially those where alcohol is not a factor.
Greg Winfree, a U.S. Department of Transportation official, said “The new technology will change the whole attitude toward car crashes. The first 50 years of transportation safety were focused on surviving crashes. We see the future as technology that avoids crashes overall”.
Critics admit that V2V technology is revolutionary, but warn about possible conflicts in the wireless bands in which it will operate.
Scott Belcher, the Chief Operating Officer of the advocacy group Intelligent Transportation Society of America, said, "If there's interference, we won't be able to avoid the crash because someone else is using the spectrum.”
Belcher said the public may be concerned about privacy and the possibility of tracking individual drivers and their driving habits.
Government agencies and the private sector have invested almost $1 billion in research.
Officials say they plan for the new technology will become mandatory by early 2017, and they see it as a first step toward a futuristic 21st Century integrated transportation system.
