The auto industry has been scrambling to meet the demands of concerned drivers who want safer and more connected cars. But as companies like Google, Tesla, Uber, and automakers like Audi work on fully autonomous technologies, others are still behind.
According to a series of news reports, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been working on pushing a more proactive safety measure in order to ensure automakers are focusing on safety first.
For the NHTSA’s administrator, the industry should put most of its efforts into making the vehicle-vehicle communication technology a reality.
After experiencing a demonstration of what the car-to-car communication tool is able to achieve, the administrator said that this type of system could give drivers safety in the car industry again. Especially after Volkswagen was caught tempering with some of the technology that allowed some of its diesel cars to pass the stringent EPA emissions tests.
During the demonstration experienced by the NHTSA’s administrator and several others, technicians drove several vehicles on the express lanes of local interstates. The roads were closed to other vehicles during demonstration.
All vehicles use din the test were fitted with the car-to-car communication technologies. According to the reports, in one stance, the technology detected the staged presence of a construction worker. his vest had been fitted with short-range communication system. The detection of the worker long before the driver was able to see him ahead helped many to avoid incidents.
While many automakers are already working on similar features, regulators want more.
To Congress, automakers are not doing enough to make sure safety is respected.
Until federal regulators and the tech industry are able to come up with a clear set of rules to make sure that certain companies are addressing pressing safety issues linked to the automated technology, however, many automakers claim that they will continue to have some difficulty in develping the right of technology.
Due to the fact they do not know how far they can go or what restrictions regulators will want to put on their technologies, they fear that further development of autonomous and car-to-car communication technologies will only be completed with regulators give automakers more details as to what their plans are.
Currently, only certain states like California allow companies to test their self-driving cars on public roads. With a more clear directive from Washington, automakers are able to develop better and safer vehicles.
For more on the car-to-car communication technology and what regulators are saying, follow this link.
