In the wake of recent fatal collisions, the NTSB has released a summary report, that among other recommendations for vehicle safety, recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety  Administration develop minimum performance standards for connected vehicle technology for all highway vehicles and once developed, require all new highway vehicles to have the technology. The report mentions that such technology could warn the driver approaching an intersection of the presence of another vehicle to help avoid collisions at intersections. As NBC News reports, the intent is to prevent or reduce car accidents by allowing the vehicles to communicate and brake or stop if the human driver is not paying attention or is slow to respond to an impending collision.

While the technology may be technically feasible and is being tested, there is still some question about how quickly or easily this conversion would be. As of yet, it is not in legislation anywhere. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has voiced concerns over the cost and effort that ensuring all highway vehicles have the appropriate wireless technology.

In addition to raising questions about the physical difficulties of installing the technology in cars throughout the nation, the report also begs the question of whether or not it would actually make our roads safer; will cars talking to each other reduce accidents, or just cause drivers to be more distracted and result in more car accidents? There are already studies that have shown an increase in accidents as a result of distracted driving due to  hands-free technology (see post on June 12, 2013; AAA Study finds hands-free technology still causes distracted driving). Adding more technology meant to increase vehicle safety that may lull drivers into a false sense of security may actually have the opposite effect on safety and encourage drivers to pay less attention to driving and more attention to their phones, food, or other non-driving activities.

Although this technology may sound simple enough and its life saving potential very appealing, with something so complicated and dangerous as driving there are undoubtedly thousands if not millions of factors that must be considered before this type of technology can and should be used. What about cars not equipped with the ability to communicate wirelessly with other vehicles? What potential problems might this cause and how will it be addressed? Will the car be able to recognize and avoid pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists? What will the vehicles say to each other and what will be their response? Will they just hit the brakes, adjust direction and/or speed, or merely tell the occupant driver what to do? What about determining the right-of-way, will these future cars know which vehicle has the right-of-way and who must yield? What if the technology fails but the driver thought it was working, who is responsible? The scenarios are endless, and thus, the intent of preventing accidents with technology that allows vehicles to communicate may be outweighed by the cost, distracted drivers unable to react in time, and/or many other known and unknown factors.