US to go ahead with technology to let vehicles talk to each other

The U.S. Department of Transportation says it will begin taking steps to enable vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology for light vehicles. This technology, dubbed V2V, would improve safety by allowing vehicles to "talk" to each other and ultimately avoid many crashes altogether by exchanging basic safety data such as speed and position, ten times per second, the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a release Monday. Research indicates safety applications using V2V technology can address a large majority of crashes involving two or more motor vehicles because with safety data such as speed and location flowing from nearby vehicles, vehicles can identify risks and provide drivers with warnings to avoid other vehicles in common crash types such as rear-end, lane change and intersection crashes, the NHTSA said. "Vehicle-to-vehicle technology represents the next generation of auto safety improvements, building on the life-saving achievements we've already seen with safety belts and air bags," U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. "By helping drivers avoid crashes, this technology will play a key role in improving the way people get where they need to go while ensuring that the U.S. remains the leader in the global automotive industry." While safety applications currently being developed provide warnings to drivers so that they can prevent imminent collisions, they do not automatically operate any vehicle systems such as braking or steering, the NHTSA said. DOT testing of interoperability of V2V technology among products from different vehicle manufacturers and suppliers has demonstrated they work in real-world environments, it said.