Connected-vehicle pilot project gets under way in the US

Conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), the project is designed to save lives and reduce injuries among US motorists.

Safety Pilot Model Deployment, a $22m (£14m) partnership between UMTRI and the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), is part of a joint research initiative led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to see how well wireless communication technology works in the real world.

UMTRI will install wireless communication devices on nearly 3,000 vehicles that will let cars, trucks and buses communicate with each other, as well as to traffic lights and other road signals located at intersections, curves and highway sites throughout a test pilot area in north-east Ann Arbor.

The connected-vehicle technology involves both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications that transmit and receive vehicle data such as position, speed and direction.

Drivers are alerted to a potential crash situation — such as a nearby vehicle unexpectedly braking, a sudden lane change or merging traffic — by a visual or audible warning inside their vehicles.