Cool: Ann Arbor is Testing Ground for Wireless Devices to Avoid Car Crashes

How cool is this?

Ann Arbor will be ground zero for a revolutionary test that will involve installing wireless devices in nearly 3,000 vehicles that will hopefully help avoid accidents, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The devices will be able to talk to one another and warn of impending problems in traffic.

The test will involve those driving in Northwest Ann Arbor.

The Freep's Alisa Priddle wrote:

Wi-Fi access also will connect buses, commercial trucks, traffic lights and road signs to transmit and receive data 10 times a second about every participating vehicle's location, speed and direction in a bid to keep them from colliding.
The project, being run by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, is taking volunteers.

The Freep reported that the project will gather data for a full year. The results are expected to lead to legislation mandating these devices in vehicles by 2020.