The Knight Rider rides again.
Via Mercury News
Signaling a technological leap forward for the auto industry and a boon to Silicon Valley, the federal government announced Monday it will take steps to require all new cars and light trucks to communicate with each other, a move aimed at significantly reducing the more than 30,000 vehicle deaths each year.
For decades, the focus of auto safety has primarily been on surviving the traumatic impact of crashes through features like air bags and seat belts. But now the focus has shifted to avoiding crashes by developing technology to make future vehicles “smart” enough to detect and respond to threats, such as an oncoming vehicle.
The technology, known as “vehicle-to-vehicle,” or “V2V,” lets cars “talk” to each other and exchange safety data, such as speed and position. If a nearby car abruptly changes lanes and moves into another car’s blind spot, the car would be alerted.
“Vehicle-to-vehicle technology represents the next generation of auto safety improvements, building on the lifesaving achievements we’ve already seen with safety belts and air bags,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said during a news conference in Washington, D.C. “By helping drivers avoid crashes, this technology will play a key role in improving the way people get where they need to go while ensuring that the U.S. remains the leader in the global automotive industry.”
HT BB