The car company is testing an early warning system that signals other cars to slow down.

Automobile maker Ford Motor Company participated in a test of a high-tech early warning ‘brake light’ that can send a warning to other drivers behind the vehicle.

The ‘Electric Brake Light’ transmits a wireless signal that lights up a signal on the dashboard of other cars, thus warning drivers of cars that are braking ahead of them in traffic or around corners. This early warning car-to-car communication system can potentially enable drivers to brake ahead and avoid getting into accidents.

The  system was just one of twenty systems that Ford tested as part of Safe Intelligent Mobility-Testfield Germany or simTD, a four-year joint research project by research institutions, German automobile manufacturers, component suppliers, communication companies, and public authorities.

Ford has been testing car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication systems with Ford S-MAX models that have been specially outfitted for the tests. Aside from the Electric Brake Light system, Ford also tested an Obstacle Warning system which lets drivers know of potentially hazardous objects on the road, and a Traffic Sign Assistant system which updates drivers on traffic information.

The simTD project had its closing presentation in Frankfurt, Germany and the technologies tested and developed by Ford, as well as findings from the research project’s field tests were presented during the event.

Ford