Volkswagen will introduce a technology which will allow their cars to communicate with other cars on the road and even with the surrounding infrastructure. The cars will be equipped with the manufacturer’s dedicated V2V (Vehicle-to-vehicle) technology and Volkswagen will bring it to market by 2019.
Using pWLAN technology, Volkswagen says the cars will immediately share and receive information about traffic situations in a few milliseconds from the local environment within a radius of about 500m. This is faster than has been possible in the past.
The technology itself doesn't rely on data stored centrally, which means there is no on-going data cost—everything is local to the car and cellular network coverage is not needed. Transport infrastructure operators in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria have also announced plans to add this technology to equipment used to block roads, which would allow motorists to know of impending road works and lane closures well ahead of time.
The company plans to introduce pWLAN technology as standard in its vehicles and in addition to mobile phone connectivity, Volkswagen also emphasised that it was working with relevant partners to find ways to ensure that all data involved is protected.
