| General Motors engineers have developed a relatively
simple and inexpensive safety technology they believe can
prevent a lot of highway accidents in the future. The
system, known as Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication,
enables one vehicle to alert another vehicle electronically
about traffic dangers up to a quarter of a mile away.
The display pictured
above indicates that there is a vehicle ahead on the
road (depicted with the red icon) and has stopped
(depicted with the yellow triangle). |
A slow-moving or stopped vehicle, regardless of whether
it is visible or in another lane, can warn a vehicle
approaching from behind of impending danger by triggering
visual, audible and seat-vibration warnings inside the
approaching vehicle.
The system can even stop the vehicle automatically if it
determines that a driver has not responded to the audible
and visual alerts about the danger ahead. This feature, GM
officials pointed out, could cut down on multi-vehicle
pile-ups on crowded highways.
In addition, a vehicle can alert another vehicle when it
is entering its blind spot by triggering a steady amber
light in the side mirror of the vehicle being overtaken. If
a driver activates his turn signal when a vehicle is in the
blind spot, a flashing amber light and seat vibration will
warn him of the other vehicle’s position.
In a demonstration to members of the automotive press,
one Cadillac sedan approached another that was stopped in
its lane. A dashboard screen to the right of the instrument
panel first flashed a depiction of a car’s tail in green,
then amber, then red. When the driver did not respond, the
system automatically braked the car to a stop, accompanied
by warning vibrations in the driver's seat.
In the blind-spot demonstration, the seat vibrated under
the driver’s left or right leg, depending on which turn
signal was activated.
Patrick Popp, director of the GM Electrical and Controls
Integration Lab, said all that’s needed for vehicles to
communicate with each other are a simple antenna, a computer
chip and a Global Positioning System, technology that is
similar to what you would find in most ordinary cell phones.
An amber-colored icon in
the side rear-view mirror signals that a vehicle is
in the left-side blind zone. |
He said the necessary equipment for inter-car
communication would not be exclusive to General Motors and
could be compatible with other manufacturers’ systems. He
envisions after-market manufacturers selling systems for
older cars and trucks.
He acknowledged that many of today’s vehicles are
equipped with multiple safety sensors which regulate
adaptive cruise control, detect objects in a vehicle’s path
and issue mid-range warnings about vehicles in blind
spots.The beauty of the GM system, he said, is that it
replaces all of those sensors with one sensor that can issue
even more comprehensive traffic warnings.
Popp predicted that a system for a car equipped with GM’s
OnStar emergency communication system would cost less than
$200 and said simpler, less costly aftermarket equipment
could allow a vehicle to alert other vehicles of its
location even if it did not have the ability to receive
warnings.
Popp estimated that it may take five to seven years
before enough vehicles have the equipment to make the system
fully effective, but said it still could cut down on
accidents long before all vehicles have it.
He said vehicle-to-vehicle communication can give a
motorist “a sixth sense,” but emphasized that a driver will
always be able to override the system and warned that it
will be no substitute for a driver’s vigilance.
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