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South Korea tests accident avoidance system

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has begun testing of vehicle-crash avoidance technology on a short road from Seoul to Suwon on the Seoul-Busan expressway, with a view to reducing the number of highway accidents. The accident avoidance system uses wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE) technology which allows vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, detecting any change in road conditions and warning drivers of potential hazards. Closed circuit
July 11, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has begun testing of vehicle-crash avoidance technology on a short road from Seoul to Suwon on the Seoul-Busan expressway, with a view to reducing the number of highway accidents.

The accident avoidance system uses wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE) technology which allows vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, detecting any change in road conditions and warning drivers of potential hazards. Closed circuit television cameras monitor road conditions and transmit a warning to other vehicles.

The WAVE technology also monitors the status of other vehicles within a 500-metre radius and warns drivers of hazards such as a car making a sudden stop.

"The fatality rate in rear-end collisions involving a stopped vehicle on highways is up to six times higher than that of other types of accidents, but there has not been a technology that can effectively prevent such accidents," the ministry said.

If successful, the ministry expects the technology to reduce highway accidents by up to 80 per cent.

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