The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications. The forthcoming rule would establish a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS), mandating V2V communications for new light vehicles and standardizing the message and format of the transmissions.
According to NHTSA, V2V messages will make use of the on-board, dedicated short-range radio communication (DSRC) devices to “transmit Basic Safety Messages (BSM) about a vehicle’s speed, heading, brake status and other vehicle information to surrounding vehicles and receive the same information from them.”
The purpose of the rule is to reduce the number of crashes by allowing a vehicle to identify potential future hazards and notify the driver. NHTSA is currently requesting public comment through April 12. To see the full text of the proposal or to submit a comment, click here.