NHTSA Launches Process to Enable V2V Communications

As expected, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has decided to move forward with steps that eventually will allow vehicles to exchange safety-related data in real time.

The agency has championed the concept of vehicle-to-vehicle communications and onboard systems that use such data to avoid collisions automatically as a way to dramatically reduce crash injuries and deaths.

But safety experts say turning the idea into a standardized system of safety technologies is likely to take many years.

NHTSA says its first step will be to publish an analysis within the next several weeks of data gathered in a year-long test of some 3,000 V2V-equipped vehicles in Ann Arbor, Mich. The report will address technological feasibility, security issues, costs and safety benefits.

The agency did not mention legal and liability concerns, which V2V proponents say must be resolved to enable automated collision-avoidance technology. NHTSA emphasizes that the V2V systems it envisions would not exchange personal information or track vehicle movements.

The agency will consider public feedback from the Ann Arbor study to develop a regulatory proposal that would require V2V capabilities in new cars at an unspecified future date. NHTSA believes that declaring its intent now will help accelerate system development.