Toyota Will Be Launching Talking Vehicles In The United States In 2021
Talking vehicles will be launched by Toyota in 2021. Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp plans to start selling U.S. vehicles that talk to each other. These vehicles will be using short-range wireless technology. The talking vehicles will potentially prevent thousands of accidents annually.
The U.S. Transportation Department And The Pending Proposal
There is a pending proposal that would require all future vehicles to have the advanced technology. The U.S. Department of Transportation must decide whether to adopt the pending proposal or not.
Toyota And The Short-Range Communication Systems
Toyota’s plan is to adopt the dedicated short-range communication systems in the United States across most of its line-up by the mid 2020s. The company is hoping that other automakers will follow suit.
The Obama administration, in December 2016, proposed that automakers should adopt the technology. And that all vehicles should speak “the same language’.
In 2017, General Motors Co offered vehicle-to-vehicle technologies on its Cadillac CTS model. But it is currently the only commercially available vehicle with the system.
For more than a decade now, U.S. carmakers have tested talking vehicles in pilot projects. They used dedicated short-range communications to transmit data up to 300 meters. This includes location, direction, and speed to nearby vehicles. Data is sent to nearby vehicles, which can identify risks. It also provide warnings to avoid accidents, especially at intersections.
Automakers were granted a block of spectrum in 1999 in the 5.9 GHz band for “vehicle-to-vehicle” and “vehicle-to-infrastructure” communications. They have studied the technology for more than a decade, but it has gone largely unused.
Using the short-range communication system in vehicles will be a big help in preventing accidents. If automakers around the world will use this system, there will be lesser accidents on the streets. Technology, indeed, is a good thing if used properly.
