Federal Government Unsure Who Will Run V2V Technology

As we reported previously, on July 15^th 2014, President Barack Obama spoke at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center Virginia.  During his speech he said that, “any new technology that makes driving safer is important to me, and new technology that makes driving smarter is good for the economy.” President Obama talked about new innovations in vehicle technology and how he’s happy as the father with a daughter of driving age, for safer roads. After his tour he said, referring to cars with V2V technology that, “they can tell you if an oncoming vehicle is about to run a red light, or if a car is coming around a blind corner, or if a detour would help you save some time and [fuel].”

The federal government would like to create a mandate by 2017 that would require all new cars to have V2V systems. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said that, “this technology could move us from helping people survive crashes to helping them avoid crashes altogether – saving lives, saving money and even saving fuel thanks to the widespread benefits it offers.”

What Secretary Foxx said has been explained many times.  What hasn’t been discussed as much is that the federal government doesn’t know who will be running the V2V systems. Cars on the road would ideally be dialed into a network that would allow them to send signals back and forth and prevent accidents. The decision of who will run this network is broken down into three possibilities that were published in an August 2014 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The options via the report are as follows:

Public: governance structure determined and administered by the government, either directly or indirectly (as via a contractor)

Public-Private Partnership (PPP): any organizational structure authorized by law within the range between a purely government organization and a purely private organization, established and administered in accordance with the authorizing partnership or similar document (typically a grant, cooperative agreement or other agreement)

Private: governance structure established and administered by a purely private organization or organizations, without direct government involvement

According to the same NTHSA report, the federal government is leaning towards the second two options. They actually haven’t even fully investigated the public option.

On page 199 of their report, it reads, “DOT research to date has not fully explored a public governance model…due to the current fiscal environment it does not seem plausible.”

How will this all shake out? The Federal Government would like safer cars run by a complex network, but they don’t know who will be in charge. It appears that it will either be administered by a public-private partnership or private organization. Does one make you feel more comfortable than another? Do you think that this will really happen by 2017?