In the future every car will talk with other cars on the road through vehicle-to-vehicle communications (V2V). But the US government doesn’t think that tech is coming soon enough. The US Department of Transportation announced yesterday that it will accelerate efforts to mandate V2V on American roads.
As The Verge notes, the NTSHA already has plans to deliver a proposal for regulations and standards for V2V technology by 2016. But the USDOT wants them sooner.
One of the big hurdles at the moment is radio interference with the V2V tech, which means getting the FCC involved. As you might imagine, getting huge government agencies, Congress, and industry to work together isn’t a task that typically accomplished very quickly.
Driverless cars have been a dream of the future almost since automobiles were invented. But V2V isn’t just a useful technology for helping autonomous vehicles enter the mainstream. V2V communications also hypothetically makes manned vehicles that much safer. And when it comes to the government’s interest in semi-autonomous driving, their stated goals has always been about safety.
“Every successful innovation means potential lives saved. So every delay is meaningful,” USDOT secretary Anthony Foxx said in a blog post. “We are in a race against time, and it is critical that technologies like V2V make it onto our roadways as soon as possible.”
Picture: SafeCar.gov