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Can Talking Cars Save Lives?

Many cars on the road today utilize advanced vehicle automation technologies that help keep you in your lane, alert you of hazardous road conditions and even stop or slow down your vehicle. A new feature now being introduced by some car manufacturers will allow vehicles to essentially “talk” to each other. Some automotive experts say that vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication will have a significant impact on vehicles in the future. 

These days, we have seen cars fly, talk, swim and drive themselves. At Service King Willowbrook, we love all of this new technology as it explodes in Houston, TX and all over the world. So, when we found out that talking vehicles can save lives, we decided to share the news in our blog.

Using dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), V2V devices can share data such as the location, speed and direction of nearby vehicles. As a result, your car will know how far away another car is around the corner and whether it is traveling too fast to help prevent a crash before it is going to occur. Cool technology? Yes. Does it potentially mean having safer roadways and offer the potential to save lives?

Reportedly, regulators say that it would be the most effective way to decrease the thousands of deaths on America’s roadways every year.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed a rule in 2016 that would enable new vehicles to have V2V capabilities.

The 2016 Mercedes E Class was designed to include Car-to-X Communication, which allows E Class vehicles to exchange information with each other and warn of potential danger.

Other car manufacturers, such as Toyota and Volkswagen, are following suit and introducing vehicles with similar technology with the ultimate goal to improve safety.

This summer, Volkswagen announced it will be adding pWLAN (public wireless LAN) to its vehicles in 2019. This will allow cars to share information about road conditions, traffic and warnings within a 500-meter radius.   

Reportedly, networking cars together wirelessly may have a bigger effect on road safety then self-driving cars, according to technologyreview.com.

Some of the benefits of cross-vehicle communication, according to TrafficSafetyStore.com, include real-time traffic information, personalized roadside assistance, the ability for automobiles to monitor and adjust their position on the highways, and slowing down if drivers are too close to nearby vehicles.  

The road ahead for V2V communication stands to offer numerous benefits. Stay tuned as more car manufacturers join the race to design vehicles that not only talk to each other but ultimately help save lives.

Sources: AOL, eBay Motors and NHTSA