May 14, 2015—U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Wednesday that a proposed vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mandate will be proposed at the end of this year instead of 2016, as originally planned, according to a report from Automotive News.
The mandate will require new cars and trucks to have V2V communication equipment to further the deployment of connected-car technologies. The department will also create a plan to test whether the airwaves used by connected cars can be shared with other wireless devices, according to the report.
“Connected, automated vehicles that can sense the environment around them and communicate with other vehicles and with infrastructure have the potential to revolutionize road safety and save thousands of lives,” Foxx said in a statement.
While the proposed mandate will likely not take effect for years, the government is pushing to get technology on the road quickly. U.S. regulators and automakers see it as a breakthrough in improving road safety.
Warning drivers about potential driving threats could prevent nearly 600,000 crashes and save more than 1,000 lives annually, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The deployment of technology has been slowed down while regulators try to settle on minimum standards.
Last week, in a meeting with Federal Communications Commission, representatives from the alliance and Cisco discussed a proposed test of technology at Denso International America’s lab in Silicon Valley.
“We all share the vision of using advanced technologies to improve motor vehicle safety on the nation’s roadways,” said John Bozzella, CEO of Global Automakers, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our work with DOT and other stakeholders to ensure V2V technology becomes successful in the marketplace.”
