'Connected' cars would keep drivers safer

While Google's self-driving car is getting heaps of attention, a lesser-known effort that would employ cutting-edge technologies to make regular automobiles safer is fast gaining traction.

Under the "connected vehicle" program being developed by federal and state officials, cars, trucks and buses bristling with gadgets would wirelessly communicate with each other as well as with traffic signals, pavement-embedded sensors and other road equipment.

Drivers then would get automatic warnings about everything from icy bridges and accidents in their paths to cars racing at them through red lights and lane changes they should avoid because another vehicle is next to them.