'Talking' Cars To Lower Pile-ups

"Talking" cars may shortly be a reality - even without the need for human-like facial features, affirm researchers.

Scientists from the University of Bologna in Italy have created program that lets cars "communicate" with a other on the road.

Similar technology had been used before but this time, mentioned the team, cars would be able to "know" what had happened kilometres ahead.

Tests indicate it could lower main road pile-ups by 40%.

The shrinking in accidents emerged during P.C. simulations of the safety network that were minute in a paper published in the biography Computer Networks.

Road tests of the program are impending and will be carried out in Aug 2011 on the streets and motorways of Los Angeles in conjunction with automobile creator Toyota.

Although telematics, that unites telecommunications and informatics in cars, has been used for a few time, the Italian investigate adds a more player.

It unites telematics with the belief of the Internet of Things in that bland objects have a participation online so they may be communciated with.

The best target is to link up all cars on the road by wi-fi - possibly by installing a wi-fi-enabled sensor in to a car, or by downloading program on to a smartphone.

Team personality Professor Marco Roccetti told BBC News that the study could have a leading effect on the public - quite "in conditions of human lives and governmental costs".

He mentioned the network the group had created was not similar from established telematics that sees a radar-type resource discover an barrier on the road in front of a car, that then brakes to prevent a crash.

"By vouchsafing cars 'talk' to any other, you can see what happens kilometres forward - since stream technology, instead, allows cars to understand an barrier usually when it is physically in front of them," mentioned group associate Professor Gustavo Marfia.

The "talking" is completed around increase in speed sensors built in to cars that trigger an warning summary in queer conditions such as when a van is entangled in a crash.

When a automobile in an mishap practice a unexpected change in acceleration, this change would be prisoner by the sensor and inform cars and drivers coming the same spot.

This warning could expansion down the sequence of vehicles in a send so they could safely end a long way before they attain the mishap scene.

"We have created an optimal algorithm for multi-lane, strip-shaped portions of roads - such as highways," mentioned Professor Roccetti.

Professor Marfia mentioned the network could work two not similar ways.

One would see all cars versed with a device running the warning software, and integrated right away in to the dashboard or in the sat-nav. The cost of integrating such a device would be about 25 per car, he said.

"Otherwise, our focus could moreover run on wi-fi-enabled smartphones," he added.

One complaint might be that if a automobile entangled in an mishap starts communicating with every singular van at the back it, and they in spin send it to those subsequent to them, the network could become clogged with messages.

To end the information jam, the group motionless on a intrigue that selectively sends a summary usually to those cars that in spin are able to send the vigilance as far as possible.

This is achieved by having all the cars all the time swapping information so they know who is in the best location to pass on the collision warning.

"Our app allows cars to stay in regular meeting with any other," mentioned Professor Roccetti. "They read any other. They know the citation and speed that all the other cars are travelling, and they moreover know their transmitting capacity.

"All this information is

Simulations of other schemes that simply pass the collision summary to the van at the confine of in-car wi-fi's announce operation were diligent with as well many problems, mentioned Professor Roccetti.

"The farthest automobile could have a lorry at the back it that boundary its transmitting capacity, or could be propitious with a less absolute communication network than the a in front of it.

Such problems are avoided if cars know who can do the best job of fleeting on messages.

"When the vigilance is sent out, the automobile that is in the best condition knows that it has to forward the warning vigilance - and so it does," he said.

If the plan is a success, it could be a step towards the belief of "smart cities" - when everything is related and tranquil by computers, from traffic lights to intelligent, driverless cars that could bring commuters to work whilst they relax in the back seat.