Feds May Require Cars to Talk to
Each Other to Avoid Crashes........Federal officials will decided in the "coming weeks"
whether to require new cars to include smart
technology that would alert drivers of a coming
crash, even in vehicles that are two or three cars
away. The vehicle-to-vehicle -- or V2V -- technology has
undergone testing in recent years and has already
been installed in some cars that are on the road. A recent study by the Government Accountability
Office determined that if the gizmos were widely
deployed, "V2V technologies could provide warnings
to drivers in as much as 76 percent of potential
multi-vehicle collisions." In 2011, there were 5.3 million car crashes that
injured 2.2 million people and killed 32,000,
according to the GAO. "The continued progress of V2V technology
development hinges on a decision that the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to
make in late 2013 on how to proceed. ... One option
would be to pursue a rule requiring their inclusion in
new vehicles," the GAO wrote in a November study. The year ended without NHTSA's expected
decision, and this week the agency would say only
that it expected "to announce a decision in the
coming weeks." Putting smart cars on the road comes with
complications beyond cost, which is expected to be
"modest relative to the price of a new vehicle,"
according to the GAO. What could make cost a factor are the
communication system safeguards that would be
necessary for the widespread use of these cars. "Widespread technology depends on other cars
having the same system so they can talk to each
other," said David Wise, director of the GAO's
Physical Infrastructure Team, who wrote the GAO
study. But it also requires that the system be secure. "Privacy is the real challenge," Wise said. He said
the V2V will likely rely on GPS-type data that could
track a person's movements. "Who has access and how do you secure the data?"
Wise asked rhetorically. He also raised the specter
of someone hacking the system and causing havoc
on the road. "The cost is in the communication security system,"
he said. There is also the issue of liability if a car that has
the V2V system is involved in a crash, the GAO
report said. If NHTSA decides to require new cars to be smart
cars, it could still be a generation before they
become commonplace on the road, Wise said. "It takes 20 years for the country's fleet of cars to
turn over," he sa