Q8

Make
Audi
Segment
SUV

If you keep up with automotive technology, you may have heard these two terms that have recently entered the lexicon: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. Both can be used to make your car safer by allowing it to communicate with other cars on the road (V2V) or to the infrastructure such as traffic signals (V2I).

Audi has been a pioneer of V2I technology, using it to display a countdown meter for traffic lights. Your car will alert you when the light is about to go green and give you the exact speed necessary to make the light before it goes red.

Audi's Traffic Light Information system only works in select cities for now but the German Automaker recently announced plans for a major test in the state of Virginia to improve this technology even further. Working with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Qualcomm Technologies, Audi will develop a new Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communication system that will make the roads safer.

The tests will begin on select roadways in Virginia beginning in the third quarter of 2020, using an Audi Q8 as a testbed. C-V2X has many practical purposes for drivers including the aforementioned ability to "talk" to traffic signals and predict green lights. The system will also be capable of delivering work zone warnings on highways, giving motorists increased notice that traffic may start to slow down through a construction zone. Audi believes this technology will eventually be used to improve safety around school buses, alert drivers of dangerous road conditions, and alleviate congestion at traffic chokepoints.

Yearly traffic-related fatalities exceed 36,000 people yearly in the United States and Audi estimates this technology could eliminate 6,000 of these deaths per year. "We recognize the immediate value of the spectrum that the FCC proposed to allocate to C-V2X, and we endeavor to show our V2X equipped cars on real roads engaging in how transportation safety and mobility could be jump-started," said Anupam Malhotra, Director, Connected Vehicle Services, Audi of America. "We are excited about our participation in this pilot deployment as it highlights the broad societal advantages that technology is now poised to deliver through the full 5.9 GHz V2X spectrum near term with far, far more to come as connected and automated vehicle fleets emerge over the next decade."