Posted 09.08.2011 at 11:06 am
15 Comments
Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Ford
Vehicle-to-vehicle technology is about to get its first major real-world test in the U.S. The Department of Transportation awarded $14.9 million to the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute last month, and the university is already moving forward with a plan to put 3,000 short-range radio equipped cars on the road in Ann Arbor over the next couple of years.
Ann Arbor, Mich., is a pretty ideal place for such a trial. It’s small enough that the cars are likely to encounter each other on the road fairly often, ensuring prodigious data output. Its proximity to America’s auto hub in Detroit doesn’t hurt either. But ultimately the initiative goes beyond the Big Three, involving eight automakers, many of whom began working together more than a decade ago to create a common platform for this kind of technology. The drivers will be selected from among the university’s 20,000 medical center workers.
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Cars, Clay Dillow, future of cars, intelligent cars, road safety, self-driving cars, traffic, vehicle-to-vehicle communicationsThe idea here is that cars that can share information will be not only more efficient but also safer. DOT thinks that 80 percent of serious, unimpaired collisions can be mitigated by technologies that let drivers (and cars) know when it might be unsafe to pass, when another car is approaching an intersection at an unsafe speed, or when an automobile several cars ahead slams on its brakes.
This kind of tech is also the precursor to a lot of future technologies considered to be the future of the automobile, like self-driving vehicles and automated traffic flow. The testbed will generate data for a year, after which the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will make a decision whether or not to approve the technology. If it does, vehicle-to-vehicle communications could become a pretty standard feature in as few as ten years.
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I was thinking that would be a cool idea the other day. I would just be afraid of communicating with angry drivers. Then again, that may create a new level of cooperation with other drivers
Awesome! Now you'll be able to hear me while I'm cursing you out behind the wheel of my locked car with the windows up... just after the accident occured where the only warning either of us had was "O S###!" j/k, lol
@aeroshpere I think they mean that the car's onboard computers will communicate with each other (primarily to avoid collisions). Letting drivers talk to each other would be, like you said, scary.
I have been thinking about this idea for a while and I always thought the best choice for the job was going to be the new wifi technologies that were coming out soon. I heard that the wifi alliance not only extended the range of wifi Signals, but they could now allow devices to communicate without need of a wifi router. I thought this would be great in two specific situations. #1 Imagine driving down the highway and you see an animal on the road (I live in Alaska), your vehicle could be set to warn passing vehicles how far away you saw it and what kind of animal it was! #2 Imagine that you are navigating a city with some friends in a second vehicle. If your friend doesn't know the city too well or doesn't know the way to the destination you could link the two vehicles for two way communication and you could talk to each other as you navigate the city!
This could turn out to be the greatest new technology to come out in the future. I just hope DOT looks at it from a consumer stand point as well as their own.
@fragdemented...wouldn't that be way to similair to the already outlawed cell phone usage in a car?
If sensor technology can improve even a modicum above eyesight, we will all benefit. Drugged or drunken drivers can be detected and apprehended as well as avoided. Our children will benefit from this research.
I can hear the nutty flavored politicians in Washington DC decrying this bequest as wasteful, though. "No good will come of computers talking among themselves! We've all seen 'The Terminator'."
@BNicholson
Playing Devil's Advocate to the Rise of the Machines: A better idea would be cars that could drive themselves. That way people inhibited by narcotics can be brought home by their 'robocars.'
A solution that keeps people safe and out of prison.
aerospehere,
they sell rear window mounted scrolling LED signboards to communicate with drivers behind you... I've set 7 preset for the most commonly needed phrases on mine. including "nice blinker jack*ss" , "your tire(s) flat" , "your light's burnt out", "speed up and do the Fing speed limit!" , "learn to drive or let your husband do it lady" ... and an app on my android to sync it with the phones keyboard for others...
cheers, eh
the rise of the machines is possible, the DOD and other researchers around the globe are taking precautions to prevent this, i believe it is likely and we will need to upgrade ourselves (which has started) or get left behind, cheers
@ptv83
that's exactly what I was thinking.
@MadMax
You're right.
I always wanted to add a loud speaker to my car so I could scream at those cutting me off. But then with so many people carry guns around these days......
Gee....We used to have this...it was called C.B. Radio, so what good is this system if you can't report Smokey's location? Seems like a terrible waste of time and money. All I want is a car that Will get me where I'm going cheaply that I can afford! Tooo much tech crap in cars now. It just cost more money to get all the techies fixed when the car gets old....and they don't make em to work on anymore...this is a terrible idea....it just runs up the cost of cars!>....ENOUGH ALREADY!!!
The idea that the cars tell other cars where they are going via a strip of binary data actually seems dangerous. When one would hack into the system they could create a barrage of false cars that interfere with traffic. Terrorism could be linked to hackers.
As for me, I'd say invent the teleportation system or reinvent the trolly.
@Xalar Thats exactly what I thought. We already have tons of problems with hackers aka lulsec, antisec, anonymous, or any other ones. And those guys are the ones that have gone public.
There would need to be some sort of hard core security system in place.
@baddogbob52 You are missing the big picture. I want a car that will drive me and not the other way around. Driving long distances is really boring. I would prefer to be on the internet while being driven. Or if I am drunk have a car that will drive me home.
Sorry for the double post but I forgot to add that this system would be a step for driverless cars.