O Departamento de Transportes dos EUA acredita que a comunicação entre veículos, chamada de V2V, poderia tornar o ato de dirigir muito mais seguro, prevenindo pelo menos 1.000 mortes por ano naquele país. Por conta disso, ele está propondo uma lei que colocaria uma versão padronizada da tecnologia em cada um dos veículos novos vendidos no mercado americano.
Como a própria sigla denuncia (Vehicle-to-vehicle, ou veículo a veículo), a comunicação V2V permite que os automóveis troquem informações entre si. Sob o padrão proposto pelo departamento, eles seriam capazes de enviar informações a até 300 metros de distância, inclusive para áreas distantes da visão do motorista. Os veículos não teriam uma identificação e as transmissões não teriam nenhuma informação pessoal, o que deve evitar preocupações com privacidade. Com isso, o sistema atuaria como um reforço a sistemas de segurança existentes. Um exemplo é que seu controlador de velocidade adaptativo saberia que o tráfego à frente parou, podendo reagir mais rapidamente à situação.
A comunicação V2V também tem o potencial de fazer carros autônomos ainda melhores. Eles já têm um monte de sensores, mas a comunicação V2B pode saber o que está acontecendo muito além deles. Ao combinar os dois sistemas, os softwares de controle teriam muito mais dados disponíveis para tomar suas decisões no controle do carro.
A NHTSA estima que o equipamento V2V e a infraestrutura aumentariam o preço dos veículos em algo entre US$ 341 e US$ 350 em 2020 e em algo entre US$ 209 e US$ 235 em 2058. Em contrapartida, os cálculos da agência indicam uma economia de US$ 54,7 bilhões a US$ 74 bilhões depois de ampla adoção da tecnologia devido à maior segurança que ela proporcionaria.
O Departamento de Transporte agora vai abrir a proposta para consulta pública por 90 dias. Depois de ser implementada, os fabricantes teriam que colocá-la em metade de seus veículos em um prazo de 2 anos, de acordo com o Automotive News. A lei se aplicaria a toda a linha de uma fabricante após 4 anos.
O governo americano também está pesquisando a melhor forma de criar um padrão para as comunicações V2V. É uma tecnologia similar à que permite a troca de informações com semáforos, sinais de trânsito e mesmo zonas de trabalho. Falamos recentemente de um piloto da tecnologia V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure, ou veículo para a infraestrutura) que a Audi está fazendo em Las Vegas.
Fonte: Departamento de Transporte dos EUA, Automotive News
U.S. DOT ADVANCES DEPLOYMENT OF CONNECTED VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY TO PREVENT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CRASHES
Proposed Rule Would Mandate Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Communication on Light Vehicles, Allowing Cars to “Talk” to Each Other to Avoid Crashes
WASHINGTON—Citing an enormous potential to reduce crashes on U.S. roadways, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a proposed rule today that would advance the deployment of connected vehicle technologies throughout the U.S. light vehicle fleet. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology on all new light-duty vehicles, enabling a multitude of new crash-avoidance applications that, once fully deployed, could prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes every year by helping vehicles “talk” to each other.
“We are carrying the ball as far as we can to realize the potential of transportation technology to save lives,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This long promised V2V rule is the next step in that progression. Once deployed, V2V will provide 360-degree situational awareness on the road and will help us enhance vehicle safety.”
In February 2014, Secretary Foxx announced the Department would accelerate its work to enable V2V, directing the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to begin work on the rulemaking. NHTSA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in August 2014. The advancement of the V2V rulemaking complements the Department’s work to accelerate the development and deployment of automated vehicles.
“Advanced vehicle technologies may well prove to be the silver bullet in saving lives on our roadways,” said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind. “V2V and automated vehicle technologies each hold great potential to make our roads safer, and when combined, their potential is untold.”
The proposed rule announced today would require automakers to include V2V technologies in all new light-duty vehicles. The rule proposes requiring V2V devices to “speak the same language” through standardized messaging developed with industry.
Separately, the Department’s Federal Highway Administration plans to soon issue guidance for Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications, which will help transportation planners integrate the technologies to allow vehicles to “talk” to roadway infrastructure such as traffic lights, stop signs and work zones to improve mobility, reduce congestion and improve safety.
NHTSA estimates that safety applications enabled by V2V and V2I could eliminate or mitigate the severity of up to 80 percent of non-impaired crashes, including crashes at intersections or while changing lanes.
V2V devices would use the dedicated short range communications (DSRC) to transmit data, such as location, direction and speed, to nearby vehicles. That data would be updated and broadcast up to 10 times per second to nearby vehicles, and using that information, V2V-equipped vehicles can identify risks and provide warnings to drivers to avoid imminent crashes. Vehicles that contain automated driving functions—such as automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control—could also benefit from the use of V2V data to better avoid or reduce the consequences of crashes.
V2V communications can provide the vehicle and driver with enhanced abilities to address additional crash situations, including those, for example, in which a driver needs to decide if it is safe to pass on a two-lane road (potential head-on collision), make a left turn across the path of oncoming traffic, or determine if a vehicle approaching an intersection appears to be on a collision course. In those situations, V2V communications can detect developing threat situations hundreds of yards away, and often in situations in which the driver and on-board sensors alone cannot detect the threat.
Privacy is also protected in V2V safety transmissions. V2V technology does not involve the exchange of information linked to or, as a practical matter, linkable to an individual, and the rule would require extensive privacy and security controls in any V2V devices.
The notice of proposed rulemaking will be open for public comment for 90 days.
