Feds speed up timetable for safer 'connected cars'
The Transportation Department is speeding up the process aimed at allowing cars to digitally connect to each other in a way that avoids accidents.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced Wednesday that the timetable for a proposal that would require that cars electronically talk to each other to avoid accidents be speeded up. Now, the proposal will be done by the end of this year, not next year as previously expected.
"Connected, automated vehicles that can sense the environment around them and communicate with other vehicles and with infrastructure have the potential to revolutionize road safety and save thousands of lives," Foxx said in a visit to Delphi Labs in Mountain View, Calif.
For years, automakers and the government alike have talked about a world in which cars are constantly pinging each other to determine their position, speed and direction. Sensors could also be embedded in highway offramps or bridges to warn motorists of hazards or simply to require their cars hold down speeds.
Cars that are in communication with each other, coupled with self-driving technology, could help unclog congested highways because they could travel in much closer proximity to each other. If car suddenly braked, the message would be flashed to all other cars and they would brake in unison without rear-end accidents.
But despite all the talk, and the prospect of largely self-driving cars on the horizon, none of the systems have seen widespread deployment.
"The Department wants to speed the nation toward an era when vehicle safety isn't just about surviving crashes. It's about avoiding them," Foxx said in prepared remarks. "Connected, automated vehicles that can sense the environment around them and communicate with other vehicles and with infrastructure have the potential to revolutionize road safety and save thousands of lives."