Skip to main content

NTSB urges standards for connected vehicles

In response to fatal school bus accidents at intersections in New Jersey and Florida last year, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that the government should set performance standards for new safety technology that allows cars and trucks to talk to each other and then require the technology be installed in all new vehicles. Vehicles equipped with the technology can continuously communicate over wireless networks, exchanging information on location, direction and speed ten tim
July 24, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In response to fatal school bus accidents at intersections in New Jersey and Florida last year, the US 5628 National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that the government should set performance standards for new safety technology that allows cars and trucks to talk to each other and then require the technology be installed in all new vehicles.

Vehicles equipped with the technology can continuously communicate over wireless networks, exchanging information on location, direction and speed ten times a second. The vehicle's computer analyses the information and issues danger warnings to drivers, often before they can see the other vehicle.

The 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been road-testing the technology, which is effective up to a range of about 1,000 feet, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the past year. NHTSA officials have said they hope to make a decision on whether to proceed to setting standards or whether to continue their research by the end of this year.

"This technology more than anything else holds great promise to protect lives and prevent injuries," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said. That was particularly true of crashes at intersections like the two school bus accidents, she added.

Related Content

  • Hayden AI’s Renee Autumn Ray: ‘It’s about problem solving’
    December 6, 2022
    Renee Autumn Ray is senior director of global strategy for Hayden AI. She has also admitted to impostor syndrome, has no time for people who scorn the public sector and offers one simple rule about social media. Adam Hill meets her to find out what that is, among other things
  • Chicago mayor unveils Vision Zero Action Plan
    June 13, 2017
    Chicago Mayor Emanuel has announced the city’s Vision Zero Chicago Action Plan, a multi-Agency approach which aims to improve traffic safety for all road users. The ultimate goal of Vision Zero is to reduce roadway crashes and eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Chicago by 2026. A dozen City departments and agencies have been working for months with traffic safety stakeholders to develop the Vision Zero Action plan, which covers the first three years of the effort and is based on the princi
  • Is it time for a harmonised international standard for Weigh in Motion?
    May 15, 2024
    Weigh in Motion vendors are frustrated that OIML accreditation is not proving to be enough to satisfy tenders in some countries. In this article, the board of the International Society for Weigh in Motion suggests a possible way forward…
  • Tampa CV pilot ‘underestimated’ challenges
    October 20, 2020
    Connected vehicle applications may be falsely marketed as 'deployment-ready', review warns