Wireless: The New Backseat Driver?

On Thursday, General Motors demonstrated a vehicle-to-vehicle, or V2V, wireless communication system that alerts you when a collision is imminent. The automaker equipped regular Cadillac STS sedans with wireless and Global Positioning System antennae and computer chips that allow the cars to communicate with other vehicles with similar equipment.

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The technology, demonstrated here with three cars navigating a special course, creates what could be described as a digital-driving symphony. The wireless technology in one car detects the presence of the other two Cadillacs and avoids collisions by either alerting the driver of danger or by automatically stopping the vehicle in an emergency.

In terms of an alert, the driver's seat gives off a heavy vibration to the left leg if the driver signals to enter the left lane, unaware of a car in his or her blind spot. Such a warning is an example of what, in the auto industry, is called "haptic feedback"--feedback related to the sense of touch. There's a visual cue too: An icon flashes in the car's rearview mirror to alert the driver that there's another car in the way.

"We're trying to standardize the wireless communication between cars, and we hope other car manufacturers will follow. This would be the reinvention of the vehicle," said Priyantha Mudalige, senior research engineer at GM and one of the four engineers who built the wireless safety system.

Of course, that's the obvious downside to this intriguing technology: For it to work effectively, all vehicles on the road would have to be fitted with similar equipment. Theoretically, if just one car on a busy highway lacked the right gear, the consequences could be severe.

"Before this works, we need to have market penetration," Mudalige said.

GM