The Moonshot Plan to Eliminate Deaths on America’s Roads
The US Department of Transportation is pushing wireless “vehicle-to-everything” technology to cut traffic fatalities. But the path to so-called V2X adoption isn’t clear.
In the Czech Republic’s second-largest city, traffic signals can change cycles to more efficiently move vehicles in emergencies. When necessary, they can hold oncoming traffic with red lights or move first responders more quickly with longer green lights. It’s because Brno’s fire brigade and dozens of intersections in the city are equipped with safety technology that allows them to communicate with other vehicles on the road, as well as traffic infrastructure.
The technology, known as “vehicle to everything” or V2X for short, is a wireless communication tool that allows vehicles to transmit speed, location, road conditions and other basic information. It’s been around for decades but has yet to be widely adopted. Brno, for example, began installing the technology on hundreds of public transportation vehicles, dozens of emergency vehicles and nearly 100 intersections in 2018. The US is even further behind that pace.