U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), chair of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, is calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation to prioritize implementing connected vehicle technologies to improve American roadway safety.
In a letter last week, Peters led a bipartisan group of Senators in supporting the DOT’s draft plan to accelerate Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) deployment. C-V2X is an intelligent transportation system technology allowing vehicles, roadside infrastructure and nearby road users to share data and enable various roadway safety and efficiency applications. Those applications include collision prevention, traffic signal priority for first responders and transit vehicles, and improved school bus safety.
“We join public and private transportation stakeholders in calling on the Department to elevate the deployment of connected vehicle technologies like Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (“C-V2X”) to a national priority,” Peters and his colleagues wrote. “Strong federal leadership from DOT in the rapid development and implementation of a C-V2X deployment plan will help achieve our mutual goals of eliminating traffic deaths and making America’s roads safer and more efficient for all users.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 42,795 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2022. NHTSA data also shows that vehicle-to-vehicle communication, like C-V2X, could eliminate or mitigate the severity of up to 80 percent of non-impaired multi-vehicle light vehicle crashes.
“We support DOT’s commitment to make our roads safer for all users with the goal of achieving zero fatalities,” the Senators said in their letter. “Accomplishing this critical public safety objective will require DOT, other federal agencies, state and local partners, and other transportation stakeholders to adopt meaningful technology solutions, including deployment of C-V2X.”
Peters was joined on the letter by U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Todd Young (R-IN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Alex Padilla (D-CA).