Citing the potential to reduce roadway crashes, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed rules that would mandate the use of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology on all new U.S. light-duty vehicles.

The agency proposes that V2V devices use dedicated short-range communications to transmit data such as location, direction and speed to nearby vehicles. That data would be updated and broadcast up to 10 times per second to cars and trucks in close proximity.

V2V-equipped vehicles could identify risks and provide warnings to drivers to avoid imminent crashes. Image credit: Pixabay.V2V-equipped vehicles could identify risks and provide warnings to drivers to avoid imminent crashes. Image credit: Pixabay. Using that information, V2V-equipped vehicles could identify risks and provide warnings to drivers to avoid imminent crashes. Cars that contain automated driving functions—such as automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control—could also benefit from the use of V2V data to better avoid or reduce the consequences of crashes.

According to DOT, V2V communications can provide the vehicle and driver with enhanced abilities to address additional crash situations, including those, for example, in which a driver needs to decide if it is safe to pass on a two-lane road, make a left turn across the path of oncoming traffic or determine if a vehicle approaching an intersection appears to be on a collision course. In those situations, V2V communications can detect developing threat situations hundreds of yards away, often in situations in which the driver and on-board sensors alone cannot detect the threat, the agency says.

Separately, DOT says that the Federal Highway Administration plans to soon issue guidance for vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, which will be designed to help transportation planners integrate technologies that allow vehicles to “talk” to roadway infrastructure such as traffic lights, stop signs and work zones to improve mobility, reduce congestion and improve safety.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that safety applications enabled by V2V and V2I could eliminate or mitigate the severity of up to 80% of non-impaired crashes, including those at intersections or while changing lanes.

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