The US Department of Transportation has laid out a nationwide road safety plan [PDF] aiming to facilitate communication between cars. This strategy is intended to deploy vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology nationwide, enhancing the agency’s commitment to a comprehensive approach aimed at reducing roadway fatalities to zero. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 40,990 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes last year.
V2X technology allows vehicles to communicate with each other, as well as with pedestrians, cyclists, other road users, and roadside infrastructure. This enables the sharing of information such as position, speed, and road conditions, even in poor visibility scenarios like corners or dense fog, as NPR points out.
Nationwide deployment will necessitate various mobile, in-vehicle, and roadside technologies to communicate efficiently and securely while safeguarding personal information, as stated in the DoT’s National V2X Deployment Plan. Smaller-scale V2X implementations have shown safety benefits, with advocates suggesting the tech could prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes and lessen the severity of collisions.
The timeline extends to 2036, with goals of full V2X deployment across the National Highway System and enabling V2X at 85% of signalized intersections in the top 75 metro areas, and 20 V2X-capable vehicle models. By 2028, the agency targets V2X tech in 20% of the National Highway System and 25% of major metro area intersections.
Achieving these goals involves multiple stakeholders like the Federal Communications Commission, which will need to address spectrum allocation rules. Automaker suppliers, freight operators, and app developers also play roles in this vision.
Concerns include cybersecurity and deployment costs, though the Federal Highway Administration recently announced nearly $60 million in grants related to V2X. The technology, however, has the potential to save thousands of lives and prevent serious injuries.
“The Department has reached a key milestone today in laying out a national plan for the transportation industry that has the power to save lives and transform the way we travel,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The Department recognizes the potential safety benefits of V2X, and this plan will move us closer to nationwide adoption of this technology.”
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy emphasized, “This plan is a vital first step towards realizing the full lifesaving potential of this technology — technology that could prevent up to 615,000 crashes.” She highlighted that V2X deployments could have prevented numerous fatal crashes over the past decades, Homendy noted. The agency has supported this technology since 1995.
While V2X is not a new concept, numerous automakers, including Audi, Toyota, and Volkswagen, have been developing ways for their cars to communicate with each other and with city infrastructure, this being a key factor in autonomous driving advancements.
Efforts towards V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication were seen under the Obama administration, aimed at making it a mandatory feature for new cars. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration halted this progress during the Trump administration.
“Regulatory uncertainty” has been cited as a factor slowing down V2X rollout, as John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an automaker trade group, highlighted. He mentioned, “This is the reset button,” and called the deployment plan “a big deal” and “a crucial piece of this V2X puzzle,” as reported by NPR.
