Cars which recognize and communicate with each other has long been acknowledged as a huge step forward in road safety and this ground-breaking technology may be just around the corner.
Swedish giant Volvo has joined other vehicle manufacturers and suppliers in Europe as part of the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium.
The goal is to have a common CAR 2 CAR communication platform ready to go to market within five years.
“In future we will have advanced exchange of vital information between vehicles such as their position, speed and direction,” revealed Erik Israelsson, Volvo’s intelligent transport systems engineer.
It’s envisaged the car-to-car communication will be via a wireless network linking with existing GPS satellite navigation. The next step involves installation of transmitters as part of the road infrastructure – speed signs, traffic lights and so on.
And the dividends will pay-off in areas other than safety. For example your car could display an optimum speed to travel which will ensure when you reach traffic lights on your route, they will be green and road construction vehicles with transmitters will alert you of their location so you can re-route to avoid delays.
Here’s another example of how, behind the scenes with little media publicity, car makers are investing millions in pro-active safety initiatives which have nothing to do with NCAP barrier testing.
