The future of both road safety and the autonomous car have been bolstered thanks to the American government's decision to legislate in favor of Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication. By providing a network where vehicles share key data with each other, V2V communication would combine with other vehicle-based safety technologies to significantly reduce accident rates.
The U.S. Department of Transport's new research plan aims to bring V2V communication to the roads in the near future. The objective is to enable nearby vehicles to exchange information about their position, speed and location so each car can sense potential threats and automatically take pre-emptive action to avoid crashes. The technology will offer 360 degree vision as far away as one kilometer – and thus has the potential to prevent up to 76 percent of road accidents that are not related to drunk driving or mechanical failure.
Research will focus on issues such as avoiding intersection collisions, activating warnings about pedestrians and ensuring the interoperability of the technology so vehicles of all types and makes can communicate together.
As part of the vision for the autonomous vehicle, V2V communication is the perfect complement to other safety technologies currently under development. Renault is working on its NEXT TWO system, a vision of the autonomous car that includes radars in the front bumper to detect upcoming obstacles, while Nissan's Safety Shield features technology such as the Around View® Monitor, which displays a bird’s-eye view of the vehicle to boost drivers' awareness of their immediate surroundings.
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