Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 February 2014
815. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will outline any proposed plans either by his Department or at a European level to introduce V2V, vehicle to vehicle technology, following the decision by the US Federal Government to introduce this on all new vehicles by 2016 to improve road safety; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7982/14]
View answerVehicle to vehicle technology is a wireless communication protocol between vehicles which exchanges various types of safety related information and is seen by many as an important element in the development of driverless vehicles. While some limited trials have been conducted in the United States, the technology is not yet sufficiently advanced for its general installation to be made mandatory.
However, even though its mandatory inclusion in EU or UNECE vehicle type approval is not an imminent prospect, there is research and development taking place in the EU. As part of Intelligent Transport Systems initiatives, EU-funded research projects have played a major role in the development of V2V standards, with more than €180 million invested in some 40 different projects working on cooperative systems since 2002. These projects provided their results to ETSI and CEN/ISO, which in turn used them to develop standards. The EU also funded different operational tests and pilots, as well as standardisation project teams.
Work has already begun to fine tune existing standards and to deal with more complex use cases. European organisations cooperate closely with American and Japanese organisations to ensure that the systems are compatible across the globe. Following further development and trials, the normal progression would be to negotiate the inclusion of V2V technology in type approval standards. Given the current state of development, it is unlikely that such a position will be reached in the near future, and I have no proposals to require its unilateral introduction in Ireland in advance of general type approval.
