Car-to-car communication aims at increased driving comfort and safety. Moreover, it changes the role of vehicles from mere transportation means to "smart objects". Despite many R&D activities in the last years, this technology still poses multiple challenges on the wireless transmission and network protocols. Aspects like efficient message dissemination, network scalability, and information security mechanisms are still major research areas in the area of vehicular ad hoc networks. In this paper we present the potential of future car-to-car and car-to-environment communication systems, introduce the major research challenges in this field, and provide a selection of current research results.
CAR-TO-CAR Communication Introduction.
The goal of the CAR-TO-CAR Communication Consortium is to standardize interfaces and protocols of wireless communications between vehicles and their environment in order to make the vehicles of different manufacturers interoperable and also enable them to communicate with road-side units.
The mission and the objectives of the CAR-TO-CAR Communication Consortium are.
• To create and establish an open auto world industry standard for CAR-TO-CAR Communication Systems.
• To guarantee inter-vehicle operability.
• To enable the development of active safety applications by specifying, prototyping and demonstrating the CAR-TO-CAR system.
• To promote the allocation of a royalty free European-wide exclusive frequency band for CAR-TO-CAR applications.
• To push the harmonization of CAR-TO-CAR Communication standards worldwide.
• To develop deployment strategies and business models to speed-up the market penetration.
Application Levels.
• Traffic Safety can be improved if drivers have the ability to see further down the road.
• If traffic information was provided to Drivers, Police and other Authorities; roads would be safe and traveling on them would be more efficient.