Todd Spangler

Detroit Free Press

President Barack Obama on Tuesday spoke on the importance of investing in new vehicle technology and infrastructure that could make roads safer and save energy.

Obama spoke after touring the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Va., which tests new technologies for highway transportation innovation. He also said he supports road bills pending in Congress keep federal highway money flowing to the states and to keep construction crews working.

At the highway research center, Obama glimpsed developing technologies that he said would one day make cars smart enough to know whether another vehicle is coming around a blind corner or to let the driver know whether a detour would save time and fuel.

He tested everything from the seat of a Saturn driving simulator, a rare chance for the president to get behind a wheel — even if it was only on a virtual road.

"As the father of a daughter who just turned 16, any new technology that makes driving safer is important to me," Obama said. "And new technology that makes driving smarter is good for the economy."

The White House said ahead of the visit that vehicle-to-vehicle technology could potentially address 80% of the crash scenarios involving non-impaired drivers and also help reduce wasted fuel by giving motorists real-time information about traffic congestion so they can take other routes.

In February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it would begin taking steps to enable vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology for light vehicles. The new technology would help vehicles avoid many crashes by allowing them to communicate directly with each other and sensors built into the infrastructure to provide data such as speed and position ten times a second.

The safety applications being developed would provide warnings to drivers but would not automatically operate vehicle systems such as braking or steering. They also would not exchange or record personal information or track vehilce movements.

Two years ago, the U.S. Transportation Department launched a pilot project for vehicle-to-vehicle technology in Ann Arbor involving some 3,000 vehicles.

Contributing: Associated Press