The US Department of Transportation has launched a road test of connected vehicle crash avoidance technology equipped on nearly 3,000 vehicles which include cars, trucks and buses as part of year-long safety pilot project.
Under the test, the vehicles will be equipped with connected Wi-Fi technology to allow the vehicles and infrastructures to speak to each other in real time to assist avoid crashes.
Being performed by University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), the road test, is claimed to be first-of-its-kind test of connected vehicle technology in the real world.
The vehicles used for the test are equipped with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication devices which will collect large data about operability of the system and its effective crashes reducing capabilities.
According to US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), V2V safety technology is expected to assist drivers in avoiding the severity of four out of five unimpaired vehicle crashes.
Further the vehicles will deliver electronic data messages, receive messages from other vehicles equipped with similar devices, and convert the received information into a warning to the driver during specific dangerous traffic scenarios.
NHTSA administrator David Strickland said vehicle-to-vehicle communication has the potential to be the ultimate game-changer in roadway safety - but it requires the understanding of how to apply the technology in an effective way in the real world.
"NHTSA will use the valuable data from the 'model deployment' as it decides if and when these connected vehicle safety technologies should be incorporated into the fleet," Strickland said.
The model deployment is the second phase of DOT's connected vehicle Safety Pilot with the first phase involving driver acceptance clinics, which delivered a positive impact.
The data gathered from both phases of the Safety Pilot, and other key research projects, will assist NHTSA in determining whether to move on with further activities involving connected vehicle technology, including possible rulemaking by nest year.