ITS America filed comments with NHTSA in response to its proposed standard for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications. Additionally, the Safety Spectrum Coalition of which ITS America is a founding member, also submitted comments.

ITS America believes a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard is needed for V2V communications and that the proposed standard should be performance-based and flexible enough to incorporate future technologies, including everything from standards for communications, to security and privacy, to V2V applications.

Preliminary 2016 data from the National Safety Council estimates that as many as 40,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes last year. That marks a 6% increase over 2015, the most dramatic two-year escalation since 1964. Automotive safety technologies of the past focused on crashworthiness of vehicles and protecting drivers and passengers after a crash. Now, new technology has evolved to the point where crashes can be prevented in the first place. The advancements represented by Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) are especially timely and important; as there is significant risk; we may see an unprecedented long-term increase in traffic fatalities and injuries, according to ITS America.

ITS America believes that as far as interoperability is concerned, DSRC-based standards and technology are currently the most technically mature and widely accepted “cooperative” short-range approach for crash avoidance and vehicle automation. Safety is essential and DSRC has a wide range of technology suppliers, transportation authorities, infrastructure operators, and automakers that support it, which will make the nation’s highways and roads safer for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

“ITS America understands that technology is able to solve many problems, but also recognizes that business, public institutions and even the public must adjust to new realities of connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT),” said ITS America’s President/CEO Regina Hopper. “We understand the potential for automated and connected vehicles to save thousands of lives and are cognizant that any such new vehicle technologies must be safe and secure in all circumstances.”