Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications technology received a big vote of confidence this past week, when Consumer Reports came out in support of it.
For many, the term V2V may elicit little more than a puzzled scratch of the head, but the magazine's support is one more sign that, ready or not, all of us are going to be hearing more about the nascent technology in the near future.
"We believe there are potential safety benefits to a system like this," Liza Barth of Consumer Reports told us. "And that makes it worth pursuing."
In a vehicle-to-vehicle scenario, cars and trucks would "talk" to each other via a short-range 5.9GHz frequency band. (Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
Consumer Reports isn't the only organization that thinks it's worth pursuing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which recently hosted a Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program event, has said V2V will save more lives than seat belts, air bags, and electronic stability control combined. According to the NHTSA's figures, the technology could eliminate about 80 percent of the 32,000 fatalities that occur on American highways every year.
V2V would use onboard dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) transceiver boards, which are only a little bit larger than a credit card. Operating in the 5.9GHz frequency band, the boards would communicate with other vehicles, as well as traffic lights, stop signs, municipalities, government agencies, and traffic control centers.
The big question, of course, is how such technology would enable the country to save more than 25,000 lives per year. The NHTSA and Consumer Reports say the technology would help in a number of ways. An "intersection assist" feature would alert drivers if a car is about to blow a red light or stop sign. A "left turn assist" feature would let drivers know if there's enough time to turn left into oncoming traffic. Other features would include forward collision warnings, do-not-pass warnings, lane-change warnings, and blind spot warnings.
Like with any technology it always sounds great at first. Given the propensity of today's drivers to be distracted already with much more important tasks such as phone conversing, reading, texting, etc in the car, would MORE information make them pay attention? Maybe if the system sent them a text message..."WARNING, Idiot driver in cross traffic at the upcoming intersetion is about to run a red light!" Then the driver may pay attention!
I sure hope designers are paying attention to security! I can see it now, in the short term when the car only gives the driver warnings: Kids on the side of the road with a rogue transmitter telling passing cars the non-existent light ahead will be turning red... or later when the car makes decisions for you, the same scenario making the car stop!!
Then there are the criminal intents, the privacy issues (each car would be uniquely identifiable i'm sure), plus unintentional interference (or intentional jamming).
The way automotive electronics systems have been designed thus far isn't very comforting.
I'm not saying it should be abandoned, just that we need to make sure it is implemented correctly!
We'll have to install these transmitters on deer and other critters too, so when they cross roads, cars are aware! :)
Definitely a technology to keep on the radar screen. While I do think V2V Communications has life saving potential, as with any of these emerging technologies, there are questions about it, more in the short term, before it's fully evolved. One thing that occurs to me is say all these new vehicles are equipped with the sensing, receivers, and GPS technology to make this work, what about the older vehicles that don't have the requisite technology on board? All it takes is one of these to blow a stop sign and any driver in the cross path depending on his or her onboard warning system is toast.
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