01.09.17 - Chicago Traffic

A Decade in the Making; Traffic Could Get Better Soon

The need for change is upon us. We now have more drivers on the road than we’ve ever had and now we want to have the benefit of improved technology that will make it possible to communicate in a new way. Sooner than you might imagine vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication will be used to communicate every aspect of driving to make it possible for us to be safer on the roads. This new technology is expected to address the problem of traffic jams and issues on the road while making it much easier for you to avoid a collision.

This new technology has already been in research and development for the past ten years and a new proposal has been put forth that asks for half of all new vehicles to be equipped with this technology within two years of the final ruling. This request also called for V2V to be present in 100 percent of the vehicles on the market within four years of a decision to give you us the technology that will cut down on traffic jams, make driving safer and help us avoid the problems that happen when we drive impaired or distracted.

These systems are expected to be so advanced that traffic signals would know when to stay green longer to avoid a potential congestion issue. This system has to be able to communicate with not only traffic lights, but stop signs and work zones to make sure vehicles are travelling at the proper speed and distance to make sure we can stay safe within our vehicles. Right now this proposal is in a ninety day comment period and is waiting the official ruling which may not take place for at least another year or more.

Not only will it take a few years for all new vehicles on the market to be equipped with V2V technology but we won’t see all vehicles with this equipment for a while. The one serious challenge is the fact that during this change over of technology we’ll have several vehicles on the road that don’t have the V2V technology. It takes more than ten years for the entire fleet of vehicles to be turned over which means we’ll see this change take even longer. There may be devices that are built to help add this technology to older model vehicles, but there’s no telling how this will go initially.

Are we going to see V2V in our future? It’s almost a certainty and vehicles that will be built as self-driving models will also have this as part of their initial setup. The future is in the hands of the robotics and technology, but imagine a world with fewer fatalities each year and more vehicles that make it home safely. Not only will this be a plus, but you’ll be able to enjoy your commute with a nap, a book or a movie if you want in your new self-driving car that has the V2V technology needed.

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