How a UA Engineer Gets Cars to Talk
Larry Head is a pioneer in the field of connected-vehicle technology, and his research is helping to determine how people will move about in the cities of tomorrow.
The UA's Larry Head has led the development of infrastructure for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, which is expected to be on U.S. roads in about six years. (Photo: Bob Demers/UANews)
The presence of a few vehicles from the Regional Emergency Action Coordinating Team, or REACT, a Maricopa County Department of Transportation program, is the only indication to passing motorists that something unusual might be going on.
In a few minutes, the specially equipped vehicles will be deployed as part of an exercise in connected-vehicle technology overseen by University of Arizona engineering professor Larry Head, who has been staging such field tests for about eight years — but working on the infrastructure for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, or V2V, for much longer.
We have technology that really can save lives, reduce crashes and reduce property-damage costs."