"Studies have shown that in a future where all cars are able to 'talk' to each other, informing them of position, speed and direction, then they can all take action together," said Dr Pim van der Jagt, MD of Ford's European research centre at Aachen, Germany. "We believe that up to 70 percent of all accidents could be addressed by these technologies. If not completely avoided, the severity of the crashes can be reduced."
Dr van der Jagt suggested a future where cars could automatically warn those following of slippery patches encountered, traffic jams beginning, and electronic transmission of braking from vehicles two or three cars ahead. This allows the driver further back to take earlier action.
"There are infinite possibilities to do with connectivity. In a future when there are enough cars enabled with these systems, there is even the possibility that we can actively by remote take control of a car in a dangerous situation."
Other aspects include the ability of transport infrastructure such as traffic lights being able to communicate with vehicles in the traffic stream so their speed can be regulated to offer a 'green wave' through a city area that would result in fuel and time savings.
A number of trials of such car-to-infrastructure systems have been taking place. A recently-concluded one in Frankfurt is currently being evaluated. The largest to date, in Ann Arbour, near Detroit in the USA, involved some 2,800 vehicles, the vast bulk of them ordinary private cars which had the research equipment connected to their diagnostic connector. The test results will be published in the first quarter of next year.
(This is one of a series of stories we are running based on the 2013 IMWA/Continental Forum.)
