After displaying future technology that
would connect cars to each other to prevent vehicular accidents or route traffic
around jams or construction zones, General Motors is now showing off a new piece
of tech that would use smartphones to reduce pedestrian collisions.
The technology uses something called Wi-Fi
Direct, a Bluetooth-like wireless communication that connects two devices to
each other without using an access point like a cell tower or WiFi hotspot.
Without the central hubs, Wi-Fi Direct boasts a range of over 600 feet and a
connection time of about one second, rather than the seven or eight seconds
necessary to detect two objects’ positions and communicate them to each
other.
Here’s where it gets wonky: General Motors
technology would use the smartphone in your pocket to broadcast your rough
location to cars around you. When a Wi-Fi Direct-equipped car detects a
pedestrian or cyclist in your path, it uses audible and/or visual cues to clue
you in to their location.
The idea is pretty early in its infancy, and
GM admits that one of the biggest hurdles to fully implementing this is the
pedestrians themselves: users would have to install and run a program for the
system to work. GM predicts that an app like that would gain the most traction
with people like bike messengers and construction workers, who spend a lot of
their time on the streets interacting with traffic.
As far as the automotive implementation,
that’s much easier–as we’ve reported before, General Motors
is already working on connected cars with
V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication devices in them, either through in-dash
systems or by connecting to a driver’s smartphone. The limitations of V2V
communication are few: systems like the ones GM is working on could clue other
drivers into traffic jams, construction zones, low-traction or impassable roads
or situations, and accidents or other emergencies.
As with all technologies of this nature,
don’t expect to see anything consumer-ready for a few (ok, many) years, but it’s
good to see that GM’s connected cars program is coming along
nicely.
Source: rumors.automobilemag
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