Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Blog

The CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium is a non-profit European organization. It is focused on increased road safety through inter-vehicle communication. They would like to establish a European industry standard based on wireless LAN components with guaranteed European-wide operability. Eventually they plan to go world-wide.

European roads are forecast to have heavy increases in vehicle kilometers. CAR 2 CAR held their second Forum in 2008, with lectures, workgroups and discussions on “Car-to-X-Communication” – referring to the great variety in types of vehicles which use the roads.

They plan to use radio to interlink vehicles and the road infrastructure so that drivers will be informed of any potentially unsafe situations. A uniform radio frequency has already been established of 5.9GHz. Research institutes are involved, and suppliers of hardware and software. Car manufacturers are also joining forces with the Consortium:

• Audi
• BMW
• Daimler
• Honda
• Open
• Volvo
• Fiat
• Volkswagen
  

Honda’s Implementations

Honda has an Advanced Safety Vehicle project which is part of the CAR 2 CAR group. They are using GPS data to warn a biker when he is on a collision course with another vehicle and when he is in another vehicle’s blind spot.

The rider will see lights at the base of the windscreen whenever he is approaching danger and by wearing a Bluetooth-equipped helmet will be able to hear a warning also. One might wonder about the blind-spot communication, since GPS is accurate only to about 17 feet and to be in a vehicle’s blind spot one would have to be closer than that. However, Honda has not given any details on that yet.

By increasing communication between all road users, the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium hopes to reduce accidents and keep the roads safe. No longer will a motorist be able to say, “I didn’t see him”, as a reason for having collided with a motorcycle.

It is not known when Honda’s new bike will be available.