U.S. regulators will propose rules before President Barack Obamaleaves office requiring vehicle-to-vehicle communications systemsin new cars, according a recent Bloomberg article, which may aidsafety more than seat belts and air bags.

"Vehicle-to-vehicle technology represents the next generation ofauto safety improvements," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxxsaid at a news conference today. "The potential of this technologyis enormous."

The technology would let cars automatically exchange safety datasuch as speed and position 10 times per second and send warnings todrivers if an imminent collision is sensed, the TransportationDepartment said in a statement today. The systems being envisionedwon't be able to operate brakes or steering, though suchtechnologies are being studied.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S.auto-safety regulator, released in May its draft of a policy thatencouraged development of technologies that could be components ofautonomous vehicles. David Strickland, who stepped down as NHTSAadministrator last month, said in May that the agency was lookingat whether to regulate crash-imminent braking, a technologyfeatured in a number of luxury models that applies brakesautomatically if sensors indicate a crash is about to occur.

Today's announcement begins a three-year period of intensive,more-focused research and consultations with the industry that willlead to a proposed regulation, NHTSA Acting Administrator DavidFriedman said.

Read Jeff Plungis' story in full atBloomberg.