More than just a supreme annoyance, traffic congestion
actually costs an estimated $230 billion in lost productivity and in
the cost of insurance claims for traffic-related deaths. A key
initiative by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to mitigate
traffic congestion is looking to develop better communication with
vehicles. The DOT is currently running trials in New York City and
Detroit to develop radios and other roadside communications as part of
the Vehicle Integration Initiative (VII), a program associated with
the DOT's Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems (CICAS).
In support of these initiatives, TechnoCom Corporation is
working on 5.9GHz Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC)
technology.
TechnoCom is working to solve the problem of vehicle-to-vehicle and
vehicle-to-roadside communications using the 802.11P standard, a
wireless communications protocol specifically for transportation and
automotive applications. TechnoCom is developing the radios and the
roadside communication devices for the VII program and believes that
the market will need 400,000 wireless access points to support the
transportation infrastructure of the country. TechnoCom is also working
with Denso on this project; Denso is developing the in-vehicle device
while TechnoCom is developing the roadside device.
Last week TechnoCom announced
the release of a wireless router that supports the 4.9 GHz public
safety, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz municipal Wi-Fi and 5.9 GHz DSRC network
applications.
Much of the work now involves communicating information that will help
drivers avoid collisions at intersections. Eventually, the automotive
industry hopes to realize a monetary savings in warranty costs and
claims by receiving more information from the diagnostics of each
vehicle.
