Thanks to sensor technology, cars can today already absorb a great deal of information about their surroundings. But they still can’t see any further than the radar sensor of the distance control system. In future, though, a Volkswagen will also be able to tell its driver what to expect round the next corner or over the next hill. Developers are using information from the sensors of the vehicles traveling in front of a car to establish car-to-car communication networks, data hopping this information to vehicles traveling behind rather like an electronic chain letter.

The applications for this new communication technology across all brands and models are as diverse as the traffic situations themselves: a warning signal when the car in front slams on the brakes, an alarm if a vehicle has broken down on a bend in the road, an alert if another vehicle is approaching the next intersection on collision course – an electronic network can predict all these eventualities and pass on the information to the driver.

Car-to-car networks use tried and tested technological components: the GPS system supplies data on the present position, light and rain sensors and the onboard computer can determine phenomena such as the weather, and the ESP signals can be evaluated to draw conclusions about road surface characteristics. Standardized W-LANs, such as the networks used to surf the web on a laptop, transfer the data. The technology is in principle identical: however, these networks must set themselves up within fractions of a second and must be 100% hacker-proof.

The new technology doesn’t only allow vehicles to communicate with one another, but also facilitates car-to-infrastructure communication. Traffic guidance control centers could thus receive continuous updates on road conditions and traffic density. Traffic lights at intersections could send a signal to stationary vehicles waiting at red which would automatically trigger engine ignition just before the lights change. And anyone approaching a red traffic light at night could soon find waiting times and detector pads a thing of the past as the light automatically switches to green if no other vehicle is approaching from the left or right.

However, before we pal up electronically with the vehicle in front, the groups of automakers forming the various consortiums don’t just have technical obstacles to overcome. Most important of all, they must put a certain number of systems on the road, as data hopping will only work if a sufficient number of vehicles can collect, transfer and process information.