Cars that 'talk' to each other getting safety test in Michigan
About 3,000 vehicles equipped to share information about
their speed and location have hit the roads in Ann Arbor, Mich., as part of a
research project into so-called connected vehicles.
The wireless technology enables the vehicles and the
traffic infrastructure to "talk" to each other in real time to help
avoid crashes and improve traffic flow, according to the U.S. Department of
Transportation, which is running the test in conjunction with the University of
Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Passenger cars, commercial trucks and transit buses
equipped to communicate, along with roadside data equipment, will be used in
the 30-month program starting this week.
The special vehicles will send electronic data messages
and receive messages from other equipped vehicles, translating the data into
driver warnings of specific hazardous traffic scenarios, the Transportation
Department said.
Such hazards include an impending collision at a blind
intersection, a vehicle changing lanes in another vehicle's blind spot, or a
rear collision with a vehicle stopped ahead.
"Vehicle-to-vehicle communication has the potential
to be the ultimate game-changer in roadway safety -- but we need to understand
how to apply the technology in an effective way in the real world," said
David Strickland, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. "NHTSA will use the valuable data from the 'model
deployment' as it decides if and when these connected-vehicle safety
technologies should be incorporated into the fleet."
This is the largest road test to date of
connected-vehicle crash avoidance technology.
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