Fleet drivers to benefit from communicating cars

Fleet drivers look set to be amongst the first to benefit from new technology that allows vehicles to talk to each other about the road conditions ahead.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication (V2V) is definitely on the way say bosses at General Motors (GM) who have revealed details of a pioneering system which promises to reduce accident rates and cut journey times.

GM - which includes Vauxhall, Saab and Chevrolet - is working alongside German car companies to investigate how best to bring the technology to market. A four-year trial of the system is due to start in Germany in October.

V2V works using satellite-navigation and wireless Local Area Network (LAN) technology that is standard in most new home computers.

Cars fitted with V2V can transmit information to each other about road conditions and hazards they have encountered and warn drivers about them in time to take evasive action.

GM Europe’s group manager for advanced engineering, Bruno Praunsmändel, is reported as saying that fleet drivers would be the first potential customers and they would be approached to get high initial penetration.

He went on to admit that V2V will only work efficiently when the vast majority of vehicles have it.

With safety-critical technology like this, you need more than 90% of vehicles involved to see some impact on the accident statistics, added Praunsmändel.