Safety

Cars converse in largest-ever on-road ITS test project The U.S. government, via several of its transportation-related agencies, is sponsoring the project, which it claims is the largest-ever road test of connected-vehicle crash-avoidance technologies. Read full story

Next-gen active safety systems from Meritor WABCO A wider, longer radar beam range and the ability to detect stationary objects are key upgrades to a collision mitigation system, one of three safety products recently unveiled by Meritor WABCO for the commercial-vehicle market. Read full story

Video: AHSS structures save lives, pose challenges to first responders Ron Moore, retired Division Chief of the McKinney (TX) Fire Department, has literally written the book on extrication involving vehicles with advanced high-strength steel structures, and he shared some of the challenges of this practice at the Great Designs in Steel seminar in Livonia, MI. Read full story

Autonomous braking a must for EuroNCAP 5-star rating? EuroNCAP says that from 2014, new cars in Europe will almost certainly need to be equipped with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) to gain a 5-star safety rating. From November 2013, the European Type Approval of new commercial vehicles will require AEB to be fitted. Read full story

Platooning tested for first time on public roads The European SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project has carried out a test in Spain of a road train comprising several vehicles automatically driving in convoy. Read full story

Developing steel cord reinforcement for injection molded parts BASF, Voestalpine, and Bekaert are working together to develop steel-cord-reinforced injection molded parts that the companies believe will make a significant contribution to vehicle safety. Read full story