Shropshire Star

Soon dashboard warnings will alert you to approaching emergency vehicles

UK Autodrive automated driving project has worked with a number of companies including Ford and Jaguar Land Rover

Published

Drivers will soon receive a dashboard warning of an approaching emergency vehicle in a bid to aid response times.

Fire engines, police cars and ambulances could soon be fitted with GPS-equipped transponders that can ‘talk’ to other vehicles. Motorists would then be warned of an approaching emergency vehicle, as well as its location and direction of travel.

The technology was displayed as part of a government-backed autonomous driving technology project called UK Autodrive. It is hoped that removing the uncertainty about where a siren is coming from and helping make drivers more aware of emergency vehicles will improve response times.

Speaking about the impact of such technology, West Midlands Fire Service community risk reduction officer Peter Allington said: “[We] have a five-minute attendance time to respond to emergency situations. With that five minutes, if it allows us to get through the traffic more quickly it means we can get to the job more safely, and it might help us to save lives.”

(Ford)
(Ford)

Ford and Jaguar Land Rover are the only major car manufacturers involved in the project. Ford also demonstrated car-to-car signals that could warn a motorist approaching a T-junction of another vehicle coming towards them, while Jaguar Land Rover showed one of its SUV models driving along a closed course autonomously. The vehicle was able to stop at red lights and junctions before pulling away on its own.

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