The U.S. Transportation Department today will launch a 3,000-vehicle test of "smart car" technology in Ann Arbor.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland will join automakers to begin the yearlong test, the largest to date.

Vehicle-to-vehicle technologies have the potential to significantly reduce crash fatalities and injuries and could one day help motorists avoid crashes altogether, Strickland said.

This first-of-its-kind effort will test a Wi-Fi-like technology by which vehicles and highways can "talk" to each other and perhaps reduce crashes and improve traffic congestion. Cars, for example, could alert each other that a driver was about to miss a stop sign or pull onto a busy street. Or that a vehicle has entered a driver's blind spot.

The test will include vehicle-to-vehicle crash avoidance technologies such as forward-collision warnings, "do not pass" alerts and warnings that a vehicle ahead has stopped suddenly. It also will involve some vehicle-to-roadway testing.

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