SOUNDBITES: VEHICLE-TO-VEHICLE COMMUNICATIONS
Ford is aggressively accelerating its commitment to wirelessly connected intelligent vehicles – known as vehicle-to-vehicle communications – by becoming the first automaker to build prototype vehicles for demonstrations across the U.S. Mike Shulman, technical leader, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, says cars could warn each other of upcoming traffic congestion or potentially dangerous situations to help guide their drivers on a safer, less time-consuming path.
Click on 
to hear audio. Use right mouse click to download.
| Cut #1: |
"When you first hear about it, it sounds really far out…but when you stop and think about it, like I say, we use Wi-Fi in our laptops and at Starbucks, and we all have cellular phones, people have smart phones now, like Blackberry's that they can do e-mail on, so we're living in a wireless world and all we're doing is taking the same wireless technology and GPS technology and bring it into our cars for safety." :25 sec. |
| Ford believes intelligent cars that talk to each other through advanced Wi-Fi are the next frontier of collision avoidance innovations that could revolutionize the driving experience with the potential of helping reduce many crashes. | |
| Cut #2: |
"NHTSA estimates that 81 percent of all the vehicle-to-vehicle crashes with unimpaired drivers can be addressed by this technology, So we think safety is the tremendous opportunity." :10 sec. |
| According to Shulman, Ford is rapidly expanding its commitment to intelligent vehicles that can warn each other of potential dangers to enhance safety and foresee impending traffic congestion to help improve the environment. | |
| Cut #3: |
"Your vehicle would not only send these messages, but it would be able to receive the messages from all the vehicles around it, and based on that it would warn the driver or maybe even some day take some control of the vehicle to prevent the accident." :15 sec. |
| The wireless connection is designed to send the vehicle important traffic information so, if needed, it can warn the driver that another vehicle may be approaching too fast. It would then produce a warning signal, sounding like this. | |
| Cut #4: |
"Beep, Beep, Beep…..Beep, Beep, Beep…….Beep, Beep, Beep." :06 sec. |
| Cut #5: |
"All vehicles would speak the same language, not only Ford vehicles, but Ford is working with other car makers in the United States and working with the United States government to bring this technology to deployment." :12 sec. |
| An October 2010 National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) report on the potential safety benefits of vehicle-to-vehicle communications estimates that intelligent cars could help in as many as 4,336,000 police-reported, light-vehicle crashes annually, or approximately 81 percent of all light-vehicle crashes involving unimpaired drivers. Experts say intelligent vehicles could be on the road within five to 10 years. |