Cars that communicate could improve safety

Consumer Reports has sent its editors to Silicon Valley and to a special Ford proving ground in Dearborn (MI) to look at how cars might talk to one another in transit and improve safety. The magazine likes what it sees in this new technology, which enables vehicles to talk to one another and to road infrastructure such as traffic lights. This so-called V2X technology is gaining currency in the auto industry and among safety analysts. It has great potential in scenarios such as a car approaching an intersection at 30 mph with a green traffic light ahead at the same time a vehicle on the cross street is about to run a red light.