The Trump administration has quietly set aside plans to require new cars to be able to wirelessly talk to each other, auto industry officials said, jeopardizing one of the most promising technologies for preventing traffic deaths. The Obama administration proposed last December that all new cars and light trucks come equipped with technology known as vehicle-to-vehicle communications, or V2V. The Transportation Department estimates the technology has the potential to prevent or reduce the severity of up to 80 percent of collisions that don't involve alcohol or drugs. A pedestrian crosses in front of a vehicle as part of a demonstration at Mcity on its opening day on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Trump administration has quietly set aside plans to require new cars to be able to wirelessly talk to each other, auto industry officials said, jeopardizing one of the most promising technologies for preventing traffic deaths.

Autonomous cars are here, but are we ready for them? As with any new technology, it'll take some time for society to let go of the wheel and settle into the passenger seat. But researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have developed an algorithm that may make this process a little smoother. The idea is that all vehicles on the road, autonomous or not, will communicate with one another via WiFi. In addition, every car will be outfitted with sensors such as lasers, video cameras, and GPS. Essentially, cars will cooperate to gather contextual information, but will be able to independently adjust their speed and position to keep traffic traveling.