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U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) issuance of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to mandate the use of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technologies and vehicles. 

“NHTSA and DOT deserve our thanks for releasing an NPRM enabling the use of V2V technologies, which have the promise of saving lives and improving auto safety. V2V technologies will help make drivers aware of threats they would otherwise be unable to see, such as warnings if an unseen car is approaching an intersection or when it is unsafe to make a left turn, and could help eliminate up to 80 percent of non-impaired accidents on the road today. NHTSA estimates that a red light warning system enabled by V2V technologies could help avoid over 250,000 crashes and 2,000 fatalities annually. Today’s announcement moves the ball forward on auto safety and will also help ensure the United States remains on the cutting edge of developing these potentially life-saving technologies.  

“In order for these technologies to work properly, we must ensure that auto makers are using V2V devices that ‘speak the same language’ as the NPRM proposes. It is important to note that the 5.9 GHz band of spectrum has already been allocated for Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) radios that will be used to implement this technology. It is crucial that the FCC ensure that any potential sharing of the band does not interfere with DSRC so these potentially life-saving technologies can reach consumers as soon as possible.”