US Government Proposes Mandatory Inter-Car Communications

In a sign of finally catching up to the times, the federal government is proposing that all future vehicles should have the capacity to communicate with each other while on the road. The proposal is meant to curb traffic accidents caused by drivers unable to judge road conditions, particularly with regards to oncoming traffic. This effectively puts vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication right at the top of the traffic priority list.

V2V essentially allows vehicles to exchange data with regards to their speed, location, direction, and even capacity, at a rate of ten times each second, The Washington Post reports. This would then allow the vehicles to get certain information that would not normally be available to ordinary drivers.

For example, if a car is about to run a red light at 60 mph, the car equipped with V2V sensors would be able to offer some countermeasures to avoid a collision. The same goes for situations wherein vehicles are speeding around a blind curve or if another vehicle is attempting to merge into traffic faster than it should be going.

The fact of the matter is that human drivers are incredibly flawed, especially when taking emotional aspects, intoxication, or modern distractions into account. Ideally, a driver should always be alert when behind the wheel, ready to react to any unexpected turn of events on the road at a moment’s notice. However, this is simply not the case, which is why there are so many road accidents every year.

According to officials, integrating V2V can potentially prevent up to 80% of traffic accidents. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx also explains that this is simply a common sense approach to preventing deaths.

“V2V will provide 360-degree situational awareness on the road,” Foxx said. “We are carrying the ball as far as we can to realize the potential of transportation technology to save lives.”

The move has already received the blessing of the biggest coalition of auto makers in the world. With the Association of Global Automakers backing the proposal, it’s only a matter of time before cars chatting with each other becomes the norm.