A connected-vehicles program has been undertaken by the U.S. Department of Transportation and its partners, with the goal of exploring and possibly enabling a new generation of technology to address highway transportation safety, mobility, and environmental challenges. This program has been underway for several years, and one area of intensive work has been the development of enabling devices, to be installed onboard vehicles, which use wireless technology to communicate with nearby vehicles and the infrastructure. This can be achieved through 5.9 GHz dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). Such technologies represent highly capable, low-cost alternatives or complements to vehicle-based crash avoidance systems.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NVS/Crash%20Avoidance/Technical%20Publications/2012/811674.pdf
