Green light given to 'talking car' technology
Waiting for a green light at the intersection may be a thing of the past following successful trials of "talking car" technology.
The Global Symposium on Connected Vehicles and Infrastructure being held this week at the University of Michigan has been told a United States trial of car-to-car communication technology has highlighted the viability of the system.
As part of the trial, in the college town of Ann Arbor, vehicles in the test are "communicating" with roadside devices in 29 areas of the town.
If conditions are safe, the vehicles can change the traffic light to green or let the driver know if a light is about to change.
Connected vehicle systems use a technology similar to wi-fi called dedicated short range communication to "talk" to each other and reduce accidents through car-to-car data transmission which provides drivers with a warning of the threat of an accident.
The technology can also track other cars' locations and speed.
It can also determine if a driver is braking or turning the wheel and collect data on traffic density.
The US Department of Transport estimates suggest car-to-car communication may help avoid or reduce the severity of 80 per cent of crashes that occur when a driver is not impaired.
The trial is the largest of a number currently being held worldwide involving some of the globe's largest car manufacturers and uses Australian technology.
The company, Cohda Wireless, came out of technology originally developed at the University of South Australia's Institute for Telecommunications Research.
The company's chief technology officer Dr Paul Alexander says the Australian system is involved in the Ann Arbor trial and is also the sole system being used in a German trial.
Dr Alexander says his company has been closely involved in both trials and the systems are "behaving as they are supposed to be".
Since last August, US transportation department officials in Ann Arbor have been testing a fleet of almost 3,000 cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles with wireless devices that track other vehicles' speed and location, alert drivers to congestion, or change a traffic light to green.
Officials in the study say about eight billion transmissions between vehicles and infrastructure, such as traffic lights, have been sent since the trial began.
In opening the global symposium, US transportation secretary Ray LaHood says the cost of the systems will determine consumer acceptance of such technology.
However Dr Alexander says the systems initially would have little impact on car costs, with a car-to-car communication unit adding as little as $100 over time.
A more significant cost may be in rolling out the technology to traffic infrastructure.
However Dr Alexander says the technology would still improve safety and reduce accidents if it remained solely car-based.
He says in the trials underway, many of the cars are "silent".
"The driver of the vehicle won't hear anything but the cars are logging what is happening and this will then be assessed," Dr Alexander said.
He expects changes to the technology as a result of trial findings as one of the aims of the work is to refine international standards to ensure all car-to-car communications are compatible.
Results from the Ann Arbor trial are not expected for a year, although the first six months of data from the test has been analysed.
Dr Alexander says the German study findings, which involved 200 cars, are due out next month and although he could not pre-empt them but "the results are great".