Applications for Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems are now extending into the realm of advanced automobile systems, according to several technology reports.

Features of VLC are now believed to be applicable to smart automobile systems that can inform vehicles of surrounding cars, traffic conditions, positioning, and prevent car collisions, according to a report by Extreme Tech.

Intel researcher scientist Richard Roberts, who has been working on VLC since 2008, believes car-to-car communication systems could be economically implemented with the growing number of cars using LED lights. This would make the VLC a less costly option from adding a new radar to every car.

An IEEE Spectrum report cited Hsin-Mu Tsai, a computer scientist at National Taiwan University saying, VLC’s limited range would actually work well for car-to-car communication systems. Unlike omnidirectional Wi-Fi connections, VLC system limits automobile communication to only surrounding vehicles. The system would use a camera as a receiver to pick up the light signals undetectable by the human eye to present a more comprehensive picture.

However, there are still drawbacks with using VLC systems in cars.

Interference of sunlight makes it difficult to operate VLC during daytime, and poses the greatest challenge to future car-to-car communication developments, according to Sung-Yoon Jung, an assistant professor in the electronics engineering department at Yeungnam University, in South Korea.

Incorporating the system into vehicles is the next step, and there are further hurdles for the technology to overcome including infrastructures, standardization and financing before it can be widely adopted in the next generation of smart vehicle systems, said Sven Beiker, the executive director of Stanford’s Center for Automotive Research.