Tests suggest it could reduce motorway pile-ups by 40%.

“Talking” cars coming soon, say Italian scientists who claim to have developed a software that lets vehicles “communicate” with one another on the road.

A team at University of Bologna says that the so-called talking cars wouldn’t even require human-like facial features to communicate with another vehicle on the road, the ‘BBC’ reported.

Similar technology had been used before but this time, cars would be able to “know” what had happened even kilometres ahead. And, tests suggest it could reduce motorway pile-ups by 40 per cent, say the scientists.

Team leader Prof Marco Roccetti said the system they had developed was different from conventional telematics that sees a radar-type mechanism detect an obstacle on the road in front of a car, which then brakes to avoid a crash.

“By letting cars ‘talk’ to each other, we can see what happens kilometres ahead; whereas current technology, instead, allows cars to perceive an obstacle only when it is physically in front of them,” said team member Gustavo Marfia.

The “talking” is done via acceleration sensors built into cars that trigger an alarm message in abnormal conditions such as when a vehicle is involved in a crash.

When a car in an accident experiences a sudden change in acceleration, this change would be captured by the sensor and alert cars approaching the same spot. This alarm could spread down the chain of vehicles in a relay so they could safely stop a long way before they reach the accident scene.

“We have developed an optimal algorithm for multilane, strip-shaped portions of roads such as highways,” Professor Roccetti was quoted as saying.

Photo credit:  BBC News

Via Times of India