The world's largest-ever test of connected vehicle technology got underway in Ann Arbor this week.
Experts predict that our cars will one day routinely "talk" to one another with wireless communication devices -- preventing huge numbers of traffic accidents.
Already, ordinary motorists have experienced driving with the devices on closed courses. One study was held last year at the Michigan International Speedway.
Now, in the next step, the technology is being tested under real-world conditions. By October, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI for short) plans to install some version of wireless car-to-car communication devices in nearly 3,000 people's cars, as well as on some city and school busses.
Traffic signal-to-car communication devices will be installed at numerous intersections; others will be mounted near potentially dangerous sections of roadway.
See a video of how the technology works:
For a year, the motorists will travel their usual ways, occasionally crossing paths.
UMTRI will collect the data, which will eventually help researchers determine how well the technology works in real life. Researchers may be able to prove that a handful of accidents were averted.
But the real potential for the technology is when it is adopted on a wide scale, in millions of vehicles.
UMTRI Director Peter Sweatman thinks the potential to save lives is huge.
"Motor vehicle injuries and fatalities are the number one public health problem in this country -- I don't think people realize that," Sweatman says, standing in a big garage bay where technicians are installing the devices in study participants' cars. "Between the ages of 1 and 35 - that's the no. 1 cause of death!"
A glass panel display shows how vehicles equipped with the new technology will be able to communicate with one another and roadway infrastructure, like traffic signals
Credit Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at today's news conference in Ann Arbor
Credit Steve Carmody/Michigan Radio
The connected vehicle systems package will take up some space in the vehicles taking part in the study.
By October, three thousand cars, trucks and buses outfitted with a special Wi-Fi system will travel around Ann Arbor as part of a one year test of the system.
A few hundred are already on the road.
LaHood says the Smart Car system allows vehicles to “talk” to each other and hopefully avoid accidents.
About 100 people will “start their engines,” at the Michigan International Speedway this week. But it won’t be for a race. The MIS is lending its track to the U.S. Department of Transportation to test vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems.
Connected vehicle technology allows cars to communicate with other cars and the road.
Devices installed in a car warn a driver that a crash is imminent or that they’re about to run a red light.
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