Delphi ‘s wireless vehicle communication technology

They say talking on the phone while driving is wrong and can be fatal. But when your car talks to another car, it’s a different matter altogether. Delphi, a leading global supplier of technologies for the automotive and commercial vehicle markets, will supply General Motors with connectivity technology that will allow cars to talk with one another and provide drivers critical traffic information.

Delphi Automotive has announced that it will be first-to-market with Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication technology that significantly advances driver alerts.

 This wireless vehicle communication technology extends the range of existing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) functionality.  Radio signals transmit traffic data from car to car to alert drivers of potential road hazards, even those beyond the driver’s line of sight or out of the vehicle’s sensor range. According to a Delphi press release, this technology can signal to the driver a number of traffic situations ahead including road condition hazards, road work, emergency vehicle warning, stationary or slow moving vehicles, traffic jams, accidents, as well as traffic signals or signage indicators.   

According to Jeff Owens, chief technology officer, Delphi Automotive, the ability to detect and signal to the driver of danger ahead is a significant leap toward improving driver safety and traffic management. This technology also strategically positions Delphi to help automakers meet potential government regulations related to V2V communications for automated driving, he noted.

 Delphi already provides vision and radar systems that warn the driver of a potential accident risk around the vehicle or in its path.  This may include another car drifting into the driver’s lane or helping the driver maintain a safe distance from the car ahead. Delphi’s V2V technology goes a step further by reading radio signals sent from cars that have already detected a traffic situation. This data is then sent to other cars in the vicinity to warn their drivers and provide detailed information about the situation, such as location and duration of a construction zone.

 The release said that the development output of this system is highly flexible and can be packaged and partitioned in many different ways for other markets and customers.  Global production is targeted for launch in 2016 for the North American market.  India, will however, have to wait for its market to develop to even consider such a sophisticated technology to be implemented here.