DOT Begins Huge Connected-Car Test

The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has formally launched the country's largest field test of connected-car technology in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The $25 million Safe Pilot study involves about 2,800 vehicles equipped to communicate with each other in real time about safety-related traffic patterns.

DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says such technology could eventually prevent or reduce the severity of 80% of traffic accidents involving unimpaired drivers.

Some of the specially equipped cars, trucks and buses will be able to alert nearby motorists about sudden traffic slowdowns ahead. Others will capture data about traffic flow and beam it to researchers. More than 70 miles of Ann Arbor roads will be outfitted with transmitters and receivers capable of relaying data to and from the test vehicles.

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood says the agency will use findings from the one-year test to help decide whether to require carmakers to implement so-called V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) and V2I (vehicle to infrastructure) technology. Observers say such a standard is probably at least six years away.

The project is being coordinated by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. The participating carmakers are Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen. In-vehicle and infrastructure electronics are being supplied by Denso Corp. and California-based Savari Inc.