Researchers Are Developing Ad Hoc Networks For Car-To-Car Data Exchange

Lucas123 writes "Researchers are developing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication technology that allows cars to exchange data with each other, enabling vehicles to know what the cars all around them are doing, and perhaps, where they're going. Intel is working with National Taiwan University on M2M connectivity, an idea came from caravanning — an available, but-not-yet-deployed technology that uses direct line of site infrared (IR) and a range finder in order to automatically adjust the speed of cars so they can travel at a measured distance from each other. In other words, they're electronically tethered to one another. Now, imagine a group of cars traveling down the road together as an ad hoc network, each one aware of the location, any sudden actions or even the travel route of other vehicles as uploaded to the cloud from a GPS device. 'We're even imagining in the future cars would be able to ask other cars, "Hey, can I cut into your lane?" Then the other car would let you in,' said Jennifer Healey, a research scientist with Intel."

Comments

They have that already

[Gothmolly]

It's called a "train".

Re:They have that already

[DoofusOfDeath]

Yeah, but those cars' interfaces are tightly coupled.

Except for the the ones near my grandmother's first husband, who worked on trains. He was killed when two cars came together with him in between. Ever since, I've avoided bad interfaces.

Re:They have that already

[dkleinsc]

I was thinking more of a different car-to-car data exchange mechanism, namely the extended middle finger.

Re:They have that already

[David_Hart]

It's called a "train".

Nah, trains are old-school, hard-wired, and are limited to following a single track to a place miles from where you are ultimately going (unless you live/work next to a train stop).

Personally, I would prefer an IFF system.... Can I get missiles with that?

sharing travel location?

[Nadaka]

Hello! Privacy concern! I may not want everyone knowing i have the strip club programmed into my gps.

Re:sharing travel location?

[Nadaka]

But its so much more expensive to have the strippers delivered.

Hacking potential

[AmiMoJo]

I imagine mod chips that block other cars from your lane will appear quickly enough, but the potential for carnage if one were programmed to give other cars information designed to mislead them into danger can't be ignored. How would one car authenticate what another is saying?

Re:Hacking potential

[show me altoids]

I don't think you have to assume malicious behavior for this to be a real mess. The only way it would work properly is if every car on the road had one of these and they were all in working order. Shit, some people can't even be bothered to fix their headlights unless they get a ticket.

Why Taiwan?

[jaymzter]

The California university system is larger than any in Taiwan and exists in Intel's home state. Anyone have any ideas why this research was offshored?

After all (and on another note), this seems right up the governing regime of California's "alley". Imagine the state using this technology to mandate your speed, or taxing you for entering the city core during certain hours, not to mention the wonderful surveillance opportunities.

Re:Why Taiwan?

[LeadSongDog]

Intel's home state

Multinationals have no "home". They spend money wherever it's best for the bottom line, full stop.

not looking forward to this...

[userw014]

There's more than a few edge conditions that I worry about - and that's without even thinking about malicious actors.

Some edge conditions:

• A big car transportation truck (double bottomed) with the car navigation systems left on.
• Multiple, physically adjacent highways - with concrete barriers between them
• Traffic stalls on multi-deck bridges
• Bleed-over from service roads running parallel to highways.

Of malicious actors, I can think of:

• Black-hat/vandals leaving false transmitters on the side of the road or attached to bridges.
• Back doors (required by Homeland Security?) hacked to allow:
  • Self-important people (congressmen, lawyers, financiers) to force a favorable path through the hoi-poloi.
  • Black--hat/vandals creating obvious gaps in traffic - encouraging people to disregard the system

It is called DSRC and it is nothing new

[Bluefirebird]

This is old news!
The Dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) is a set of protocols and standards for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communications.
The lower layers in the protocol stack are defined by the 802.11p standard, which is a modified version for the 802.11a for vehicular environments and it operates in the 5.9 GHz band.
The higher layers are defined by the Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) stack, for messaging and control, and the IPv6 stack for applications and services.


There are already commercial DSRC radios and lots applications have been developed in the ITS research community. For instance, the See-Through System: an overtaking assistance system http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esh1EjgBQaI

Why?

[tech.kyle]

Because cars should have twitter too.

Car1: Sitting at a red light. So bored!
Car2: @Car1 LOL floored it on the yellow and made it through.
Car1: @Car2 At the next red light with you. Wanna race?
Car3: @Car1 @Car2 Police ahead, don't do it.
TotallyNotPolice: @Car1 @Car2 Ignore him. No police. You should race.

why is it in your GPS?

[schlachter]

You don't know how to get there on your own by now?

Re:Deck chairs arrangements

[lgw]

Self driving taxis will be available on demand

For any such system to be useful, you need a very strong system to prevent them being used as a place to sleep, convenient bathroom, and so on. Zipcar manages, mostly by not being public - you have a contract, a credit car on file, insurance, and so on. I can see Zipcar offering self-driving cars long before I can see a taxi service doing so.

Sample data exchange

[RevWaldo]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<M2M>
<vehicle>
<ssid>rubber_duck</ssid>
<haul>timber</price>
<destination>Tulsa Town</destination>
<kph>160</kph>
<mode>convoy</mode>
<memo>we got a great big convoy</memo>
</vehicle>
<vehicle>
<ssid>big_ben</ssid>
<haul>hogs</price>
<destination>Tulsa Town</destination>
<kph>160</kph>
<mode>convoy</mode>
<memo>ain\'t she a beautiful sight?</memo>
</vehicle>
</M2M>