Kevin Fitchard at GigaOM reports that the Ford Motor Company (F) is testing a new concept in the connected car world. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker is experimenting with wireless brake lights that can be seen around corners. Ford is testing the vehicle-to-vehicle safety research in Germany with experimental radio-equipped S-MAX vehicles that communicates with other vehicles. The S-Max alerts nearby vehicles when the car is braking, long before drivers can see it.
The Ford test is really part of a larger vehicle-to-vehicle communications effort that Ford and other global automakers have pursued for years. (rb- I have covered connected cars many times here, here, and here). The author claims the idea is to connect every vehicle on the road into a massive automotive network. Each car itself would be an individual actor, but they would also become aware of the actions and intentions of the vehicles around them.
In such a network, the article states that drivers are no longer dependent solely on their senses to react to road and traffic conditions. An electronic brake light is the most obvious use case for such a system. GigaOM says that eyes and feet can only act so fast, but a dashboard light warning the driver of a pile-up just out of sight could be a lifesaver. Chief technical officer and vice president of Ford Research and Innovation, Paul Mascarenas, told Australia’s Car Advice that “Car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications represent one of the next major advancements in vehicle safety.”
rb-
The Ford system is one of 20 being tested in Germany so it will be many years before a standard system emerges. Ford is also involved with the University of Michigan’s Safety Pilot Model Deployment, a field test of more than 2800 vehicles.
Then there are the privacy concerns. I wonder what Ford or worse yet the Feds will do with all the data generated by these vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems. I think it is likely the automakers will make the data available to GPS or navigation providers of traffic problems on a road if too many smart brake lights go off.
Related articles
- Here’s what connected cars will be doing by 2020 (venturebeat.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.