V2V Communication to Be Required on New U.S. Light Vehicles
John Simpson | December 26, 2016Citing 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. 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.
I applaud the technology but you can't fix stupid! People will use the technology as it's designed....others will use it just to "see what happens". And you think the car companies are getting sued now? I can just hear it...."the warning never went off when I pulled out to pass"....or "it never warned me that ice was on the road". Or the brakes when on unexpectedly when I hit my head on the steering wheel. It's like the lane warning lights on the cars today....waste of money and time. The driver better be looking at the road and not relying on some sensor to warn of danger or an on-coming car!
There have already been autonomous vehicle "crashes" where and when the human element was left out of the equation. The concept is good, but definitely not perfected.
A good example of imperfect technology, in automotive circles, is that of traction control. Albeit, a small, but significant number of crashes can be attributed to "traction control" taking over, when a little "slippage" would have been OK. There have been incidents on a slippery "upslope" where traction control took over and made a traffic situation dangerous. Being unable to negotiate a slightly slippery upslope at speed due to traction control taking over is not only inconvenient, but downright dangerous.
Perhaps a way to "instantly disable" traction control is a possible solution--a "one button" solution...
Automakers, what say you?