The US Department of Transportation has unveiled a plan to introduce V2X technology, which will allow vehicles to communicate with each other to prevent accidents. By 2036, it is planned to equip most cars and intersections with V2X technology, which will reduce the number of accidents to almost zero.
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About 41,000 people died in crashes last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. V2X technology promises to solve this pressing issue, it seems, once and for all. V2X allows vehicles to exchange information such as their location, speed and road conditions, not only with each other, but also with pedestrians, cyclists, other road users and road infrastructure, which is especially important in low visibility conditions, e.g. turns and in thick fog, explains Engadget.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said nationwide implementation will require a range of different technologies that can share data efficiently and securely while protecting people’s personal information. Proponents of the technology argue that it could prevent hundreds of thousands of accidents and mitigate the impact of collisions, at a minimum, by reducing the speed of collisions. It is noted that small projects to implement V2X have already demonstrated their advantage.
The plan calls for a phased implementation of V2X until 2036. By this time, the technology should cover the entire national highway system, 85% of traffic lights in 75 major cities, and be available in 20 car models. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said “the plan is an important first step toward realizing the full life-saving potential of this technology, which could prevent up to 615,000 crashes annually,” and John Bozzella , president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, called the plan a “reset” after a period of “regulatory uncertainty” that has apparently slowed the technology’s progress.
It’s worth noting that V2X is far from a new idea. Many automakers, including Audi, Toyota and Volkswagen, have long been working on communication systems between cars and urban infrastructure, especially in the context of the development of autonomous driving (autopilot). However, previous attempts to make the technology mandatory have failed.
V2X implementation also faces a number of challenges, including cybersecurity and financing issues. It will require the participation of many stakeholders, including the Federal Communications Commission, automakers and app developers. In the short term, by 2028, the ministry plans to install V2X technology at 20% of the national highway system and 25% of signalized intersections in major metropolitan areas.