Mercedes Car-to-Car Communication Launching by 2014
Mercedes is getting set to bring Car-to-X communication, a system which allows vehicles to communicate with other vehicles and infrastructure, to the market before the end of the year.
Though the system only works with other vehicles or objects fitted with a similar system, outfitting Mercedes-Benz products with car-to-x communications means that the brand has an edge on the market. Once more vehicles are outfitted with these communications devices, the benefits will grow.
SEE ALSO: Mercedes Testing Car-to-Car Communications
Imagine an ambulance is approaching from behind. With car-to-x communication, an alert will be sent to your vehicle before you see or hear that ambulance. Even things like wrong-way drivers or dangerous weather conditions will be transmitted to drivers through their car communication systems. Car-to-X is also capable of communicating with infrastructure and road signs for even more safety related information.
A manual alert will be outfitted in each vehicle with car-to-x communications, which allows one driver to send an alert to all others in the area, warning them of things like stalled cars or animals on the road.
Cars communicating with each other is one of the ways that our vehicles could be made fully autonomous, and Mercedes says that retrofitting its past products with the system will also be possible by the end of the year.
As the number of car-to-x equipped vehicles grow, so do the benefits of having such a system, which is one of the reasons why Daimler is working on a standardized car-to-car communication system that could be put into place in all new vehicles.
Discuss this story at benzforum.com
Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
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Does this mean you could send text messages to other drivers? Perhaps a virtual middle finger when they cut you off?