Feds: All Cars Must Communicate – But Don’t Worry We Won’t Spy On You

For years, transportation wonks have been waiting for automated technologies that will make cars safer and easier to use, cutting down on traffic jams and lowering the risk of deadly crashes. Now we’re one step closer to that future: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has unveiled a plan to require vehicle-to-vehicle communications technologies in all new passenger cars. Adopting these technologies, the agency says, could prevent nearly 600,000 car crashes every year once the rollout is complete. Vehicle-to-vehicle communications allow cars to talk to one another, relaying information like speed, position and trajectory. This means that when you’re approaching an intersection and there’s oncoming traffic, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technologies could judge when it’s safe to turn left. Most drivers probably feel like they don’t need this type of help. In the vast majority of cases, turning left might seem like a non-problem. But consider the outlier cases where warnings against turning left too soon would be immensely helpful. Unsafe left turns account for more than seven percent of all car collisions. That’s just one of a number of scenarios that NHTSA is floating in a massive, 300-page report out this week accompanying its plan. “Adoption of crash avoidance technologies, like electronic stability control, has helped vehicles react to crash-imminent situations,” wrote NHTSA, “but has not yet been able to help the driver react ahead of time.”