Government Wants Cars To Talk To Each Other

The Department of Transportation announced plans Monday to move forward with technology that will allow vehicles to communicate with each other in order to prevent collisions.

The government agency estimates that vehicle-to-vehicle (v2v) communication could prevent up to 80 percent of accidents that don’t involve drunk drivers or mechanical failure.

The DoT proposal would require all car manufacturers to install v2v communications in cars and other light vehicles. The systems typically feature transponders able to communicate a car’s location, direction and speed at up to 10 times per second to other cars surrounding it, using a dedicated radio spectrum similar to WiFi. The vehicle would then alert its driver to a potential collision. Some systems could automatically slow the car down to avoid an accident.

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“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,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.