Cadillac today announced the introduction of vehicle-to-vehicle communications on the 2017 interim model year CTS performance sedan, allowing equipped vehicles to share information to alert drivers to upcoming hazards, laying the groundwork for connected, safer vehicles.
Cadillac’s V2V technology uses dedicated short range communications and GPS and can accommodate 1,000 messages per second from vehicles up to 1,000 feet away. For example, when a car approaches an urban intersection, the technology scans the vicinity for other vehicles and tracks their positions, directions, and speeds, warning the driver of potential dangers that might otherwise go undetected.
“V2V essentially enables the car to sense around corners, says Richard Brekus, Cadillac global director of product strategy. “Connecting vehicles through V2V holds tremendous potential, as this technology enables the car to acquire and analyze information outside the bounds of the driver’s field of vision.”
Brekus says common hazardous situations that prompt alerts include: hard breaking, slippery conditions, and disabled vehicles. He says through the next-generation Cadillac user experience infotainment system, drivers can customize alerts to display in the instrument panel and available head-up display. While only vehicles equipped with V2V systems can communicate with each other, multiple V2V vehicles create an ad hoc wireless network that allows for the transfer of information without relying on sight lines, good weather conditions, or cellular coverage.
V2V is included standards on the 2017 CTS in the United States and Canada, and offers a suite of available active safety features, such as adaptive cruise control with full-speed range, automatic front and rear braking, forward collision mitigation, lane keep assist, and rear cross traffic alert.
