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| FILE - In this July 20, 2015 file photo, a pedestrian crosses in front of a vehicle as part of a demonstration at Mcity on its opening day on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. Cars that wirelessly talk to each other are finally ready for the road, creating the potential to dramatically reduce traffic deaths, improve the safety of self-driving cars and someday maybe even help solve traffic jams, automakers and government officials say. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) |
WASHINGTON (AP) — All new cars and light trucks would
be able to talk wirelessly with each other, with traffic lights and with other
roadway infrastructure under a proposal released Tuesday by the Transportation
Department. Officials say the technology holds the potential to dramatically
reduce traffic deaths and transform driving.
Vehicle-to-vehicle communications, or V2V, enables cars
to transmit their locations, speed, direction and other information ten times
per second. That lets cars detect, for example, when another vehicle is about
to run a red light, is braking hard, changing lanes or coming around a blind
turn in time for a driver to prevent a crash.
The technology has the potential to prevent or mitigate
the severity of up to 80 percent of collisions that don't involve alcohol or
drugs, officials said.
Automakers and the government have been working
together on developing and testing the technology for more than a decade. Under
the department's proposal, V2V systems would be required to "speak the
same language" through standardized messaging the government has developed
with industry.
The Federal Highway Administration plans to separately
issue guidance to help transportation planners integrate two-way wireless
technology into roadway infrastructure such as traffic lights, stop signs and
work zones. Cars could communicate information on road conditions to the
infrastructure, which could then be passed along to other vehicles as they come
along. Traffic lights would know when to stay green to avoid unnecessary
waiting and reduce congestion.
Automakers have said the technology is ready for the
road, but they've been waiting for government regulations to ensure compatibility.
There is a 90-day comment period before the proposal
can be made final, and there are often gaps of months or years between when
rules are proposed and when they are made final. The proposal calls for 50
percent of new vehicles to have the technology within two years after a final
rule is issued, and 100 percent of vehicles with four years.
It would still take years or even decades after that
for the full potential of V2V to be realized. That's because V2V can prevent
collisions only among vehicles equipped with the technology. It takes decades
for the entire fleet of vehicles on the road to turn over. But the process of
spreading V2V throughout the fleet may go faster if, as expected, devices are
developed that enable motorists to add the technology to older vehicles.
V2V's range is up to about 1,000 yards in all
directions, even when sight is blocked by buildings or other obstacles. That
gives the technology the advantage of being able to detect a potential
collision before the driver can see the threat, unlike the sensors and cameras
of self-driving cars that sense what's immediately around the vehicle.
Ultimately, self-driving cars that are also equipped
with V2V may be the answer to traffic congestion because they'll be able to
synchronize their movements so that they can merge seamlessly and travel in
long, closely packed caravans at higher speeds, according to government and
industry officials. That would improve traffic flow and increase highway
capacity.
The DOT proposal requires automakers to follow
cybersecurity guidelines the department issued in October.
To protect privacy, V2V messages are anonymous — they
don't contain any information on the driver, owner of the vehicle, make or
model, vehicle identification number or license plate. The messages are also of
brief duration and not retained, therefore it's not possible for a hacker to
use the messages to determine where a vehicle has been, said Debra Bezzina, an
engineer with the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute who
works on the technology.
AP
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