The U.S. government is expediting rules that will make car-to-car communication mandatory.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is expected to announce that the government is speeding up the implementation of new rules that will require wireless car-to-car communication in hopes of preventing thousands of crashes.
The reason for the government’s haste is a recent announcement that the Federal Communications Commission is considering narrowing part of the wireless spectrum now reserved for cars to “talk” to each other, with that space possibly expanding wireless connectivity for various electronic gadgets. Congress is also considering a bill that would mandate automakers share the spectrum with electronic devices.
NHTSA and Foxx plan to send the proposed regulations to the White House Office of Management and Budget by the end of the year. Foxx’s proposal comes after over a year of testing has been done in Ann Arbor, Michigan that involved nearly 3,000 vehicles communicating with each other.
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Originally, Foxx said the Transportation Department planned to issue a proposal in 2017 saying that all new vehicles should be able to communicate with one another. Under the expedited timetable, a decision could be made before President Obama leaves office in early 2017. NHTSA believes that car-to-car communication could prevent nearly 600,000 left-turn and intersection crashes and help save about 1,100 lives per year.
Last year, General Motors revealed that car-to-car communication technologies would be used in its 2017 Cadillac CTS, which will go on sale late next year.
[Source: The Detroit News]
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