The Department of Transportation wants America’s cars to talk to each other, and it wants that to happen pretty soon. That’s why Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced that legislation to make vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication a mandatory feature of new cars will be brought forward. At a speech in Silicon Valley, the official added that he’s greasing the wheels of government to make it easier for the program to begin. For instance, he’s working with the FCC to ensure that the 5.9GHz spectrum is properly tested and ready for use when this technology eventually reaches consumers in the next few decades.
The idea behind V2V is that cars will be in constant communication with their neighbors on the road, so you’ll be alerted to an impending accident before it happens. So, you may not be able to see an on-rushing driver behind a blind bend, but your dashboard will alert you before anything catastrophic takes place. Foxx is hoping that V2V, combined with autonomous vehicles, will help reduce the number of auto accidents on the road. Naturally, we’re still several years from seeing this in the cars down at showroom, but at least the Government is making sure that there’s no roadblocks on its end.