Backlash Coming On Car-to-Car Talk?

Let's be clear. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications will be mandated in the United States. For car companies, V2V won't be an option. For us consumers, it won't be a nice feature to have if we can pay for it. If all goes well, V2V could become a new regulation by the end of this decade -- though many may argue that this is a big "if."

Under the V2V plan, your car would use a built-in transponder to broadcast its position, type, speed, and trajectory wirelessly 10 times a second in all directions. Other vehicles within range would do the same.

What for? For your safety, according to the Department of Transportation (DoT).

In theory, equipment installed in each car, bus, or truck would use incoming data to compute a possible collision course with another vehicle or object -- and alert the driver if a crash is imminent.

Research released last month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates that V2V's two safety applications -- left turn assistance and intersection movement assistance -- could prevent up to 592,000 crashes and save as many as 1,083 lives a year.

Judging by more than 50 comments filed in the public comment section on the government's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (excluding comments filed via letters), the public's general sentiment for V2V isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy thus far. The comments range from "hell, no" and "I WILL NOT SUBMIT TO THIS RULE" to "Just another way for the Government to track our every move."

Read the rest of this article on EETimes.