There is no second opinion to the statement “Technology has the potential to save many human lives from a crash and also offer reduced congestion to make way to green driving”. US government is seriously considering the need of new technology for active safety in addition to the existing.
In a meeting earlier this year, Mr. Robert Bertini, Deputy Administrator (DOT’s RITA), mentioned that V2V & V2I, can hopefully help reduce the 33,808 fatalities, 2.22 million injuries, and 5.51 million crashes suffered on U.S. roadways per year. In terms of accessibility, reliability and mobility it is expected to reduce 4.2 billion hours of travel delays on U.S. roads, where transportation sector contributes 28% of, US-GHG emissions.
V2V technology equipped vehicle can communicate with each other, to share their In-vehicle information periodically and even avoid the unforeseen crash or road side problems. With the combination of GPS and CAN for getting position details and In-vehicle parameters, many applications can be developed, for occupant safety and enhance driving experience. Some of the examples of usage of such technology are, Hazardous Location V2V Notification, Pre-Crash Sensing/Warning, Cooperative Forward Collision Warning, Emergency electric brake warning & etc.
The communication between two cars is being established through a wireless dedicated spectrum ranging 5.850-5.925GHZ. Broadcasting type of communication is used with aiming distance of 1000mtrs; group of vehicles travelling is certain area can share the information with each others. The coverage distance may vary depending upon the speed of the vehicle. A powerful algorithm manipulates the real time data from in-vehicle/inter-vehicle and finds the upcoming crash.
Apart from V2V, an infrastructure can communicate to the vehicle nearby, to announce or broadcast infra based information in the same method as V2V does. This, vehicle to infrastructure (V2I), is used to develop many applications such as, Low Bridge Warning, Road Condition Warning, Traffic Signal Violation Warning and Work Zone Warning. This gives the users and service provider an add-on advantage for investing in it, such as video on demand, traffic update etc. V2V& V2I has its own way to tackle the problem, apart from the traditional method. V2V & V2I can be enriched by adding more innovative applications for solving problems.
There are various groups spread among developed countries, doing researches to make V2V system reliable and standard. The US DOT and EU had taken major initiatives and formed a consortium with different goals on its own. VSC-A, CICAS & VII are consortium initiated by US DOT’s and SEVECOM, PRECIOSA, CVIS etc are initiated by EU government. CICAS major goal is to develop and evaluate a prototype system, VSC’s major goal is to determine DSRC capable & deployment and improve vehicle positioning system. SEVECOMS’s major goal is to find practical solution to security & privacy of V2V and V2I communication. PRECIOSA’s goal is to have privacy protection of location related data. Apart from this many OEM’s have done with their V2V POC’s, namely GM, HONDA, FORD, TOYOTA and Mercedes-Benz, who are working member of VSC-A consortium.
Most of these consortium researches have started parallel with various goals and now have finalized the solution & standards on their goals. The US government is analyzing the possibilities and problems of implementing V2V in US road ways. Many industry experts feel that V2V & V2I will become standard, when they are implemented to its full potential. Since the research on this technology has almost come to an end with flagging positive sign, many OEM’s and Tier-1 auto companies started developing application on this upcoming technology, to have a go-to-market strategy to capture the large market share once it is rolled out. Since it is a networking of vehicle, the implemention of this technology should be uncomplicated, so that unequipped cars саn easily be retrofitted аt reasonable cost. No doubt that once the technology hits the road, we will enjoy the safe, secure and joyful ride.