Smart intersection “talks” to cars to help reduce crashes, ease congestion
Ford Motor Company researchers today unveiled one of the first privately funded “smart intersections” in North America, a key step toward leveraging GPS technology and wireless infrastructure-to-vehicle communications to reduce traffic accidents and ease congestion.
Smart ‘talk’
Ford’s new smart intersection in Dearborn communicates with specially equipped test vehicles to warn drivers of potentially dangerous traffic situations, such as when a vehicle is about to run through a red light. Once the in-vehicle computer receives data indicating a potential hazard, it can instantly warn drivers through visual and audio alerts.
The smart intersection transmits several pieces of data to the test vehicle, including a digital map of the intersection, six additional maps of surrounding stop sign intersections and crosswalks, lane-specific GPS location, as well as traffic light status and timing information.
‘Active’ safety innovations
The smart intersection project will accelerate Ford’s research into proprietary “active safety” technologies as it continues development of a common architecture and standards for smart intersections together with General Motors Corp., Honda Motor Co., Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp., the federal government, and local and county road commissions. The joint public-private effort is known as Crash Avoidance Metrics Partnership (CAMP).
Urban traffic hazards
The active safety initiative comes as research shows that 40 percent of all traffic accidents and 20 percent of crash-related fatalities occur at intersections. The issue is expected to become more pressing as the global population migrates to large urban areas. The U.S. National Intelligence Council predicts about two-thirds of the world will be living in city regions by 2015, up from 50 percent today.
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data for 1997-2004, 84 percent of fatalities in signalized intersections and 37 percent of fatalities in stop sign junctions occurred in urban settings.
Fewer crashes, less congestion and less fuel consumed
Infrastructure-to-vehicle communications could directly ease congestion by reducing crashes. According to the Texas Transportation Institute’s 2007 Urban Mobility Report, traffic congestion continues to worsen in American cities of all sizes, annually wasting nearly 3 billion gallons of fuel as recently as 2005 – that’s 58 fully-loaded supertankers. According to TTI analyst David Schrank, approximately half of traffic delays are caused by accidents, breakdowns and road debris.
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