Could Crash Avoidance Technology Soon Be Required on New Vehicles?
New cars and trucks could soon be required to include crash avoidance technology that would allow vehicles to communicate with each other to avoid crashes. In an effort to reduce the number of traffic accidents, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says that the administration plans to develop a proposal before 2017 that would require auto makers to include crash avoidance technology on all new vehicles.
According to Transportation Secretary Foxx, evidence supports the implementation of crash avoidance technology, with data from a Transportation Department study of about 3,000 vehicles showing that crash avoidance technology could help avoid collisions in approximately 70-80% of potential vehicle accident situations involving sober drivers. The technology functions by using short-distance radio networks, capable of sending signals up to 300 yards, to allow vehicles to communicate their position, speed, and direction with other vehicles. If a collision is imminent, the vehicle sounds an alarm even if the oncoming car is not visible to the driver.
The Wall Street Journal indicates that
auto makers stand ready to meet these potential new requirements. In fact, crash avoidance technology in the form of vehicle-to-vehicle communications has been in the works for years. The technology would work in conjunction with various automated driving tasks, such as braking and steering. Although the technology is nearly ready for mass production, there are other hurdles to overcome before it can be deployed. According to the Wall Street Journal, trade groups indicate that security and privacy, along with consumer acceptance, affordability, achieving the critical mass to enable the ‘network effect,’ and establishment of the necessary legal and regulatory framework still need to be addressed before crash avoidance technology can be fully implemented.
Are there dangers associated with enhanced in-vehicle technology?
Some experts fear that in-car safety technologies could encourage risky behavior by creating a false sense of security. For instance, while safety features like stability control have not been shown to cause an increase in risky driving, technologies like adaptive cruise control and lane departure warnings are designed with the distracted driver in mind and could encourage risky or distracted driving. Moreover, some in-car technologies have actually made driving more dangerous. For instance, AAA has warned motorists that Bluetooth technologies and other hands-free-voice-based systems impede a driver’s ability to operate a car safety because it diverts the driver’s attention from the task of driving.
