The Department of Transportation began the biggest ever test of crash avoidance technology today, as nearly 3,000 cars took towards the streets of Ann Arbor, Mich. The project is part of the group’s year-long Safety Pilot study that teststrucks and cars, and buses equipped with “connected” Wi-Fi technology. The technology allows the infrastructure and vehicles to communicate as part of new crash avoidance system.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood joined elected officials and industrycommunity and industry members on the University of Michigan campus to begin with the second phase of the Safety Pilot test. La Hood commented that the day had been a big moment for automotive safety, and that the technology offered real promise for improving the efficiency and safety of America’s roads.

The research is being conducted from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The path tests being conducted are the initial ever for connected vehicle technology getting used in real world driving conditions. All of the vehicles participating in the exam have mostly been supplied by volunteer participants. The cars are then equipped with what UMTRI calls vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication devices. The devices gather extensive data about operability and how effectively it reduces accidents. According to the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA), V2V technology could help reduce the severity of four out of five unimpaired vehicle crashes. Both groups hope that the tests will further back the claims.

Throughout the test, participating vehicles send and receive electronic data messages along with other equipped vehicles. The devices then translate the data received, and create a warning to the driver during specific hazardous traffic scenarios. The systems can detect hazards that include an impending collision at a blind intersection, a car changing lanes in another vehicle’s blind spot, or perhaps a rear collision with a vehicle stopped ahead, among others.

Today’s model deployment test will be the second phase of the DOT’s connected vehicle Safety Pilot program. Earlier this year, the DOT released data from a series of driver acceptance clinics, where volunteer drivers could actually get behind the wheel of vehicles designed with V2V technology. The study showed that 90% of drivers who experienced V2V technology had highly favorable opinions about the system’s benefits and would like to have the same systems by themselves personal vehicles.

The information collected during both phases of the Safety Pilot testing will likely be taken into account through the NHTSA to determine whether or not to proceed with further involvement in connected vehicle technology, including the possibility of rulemaking.

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