How about a 'talking car' to warn you about the potential dangers and save you from all the troubles on the road? No, it is not an idea for a new Hollywood tech-movie, but rather an ambitious new project by Department of Transportation (DOT).

University of Michigan in collaboration with the US Department of Transportation has begun a $22 million project to enable the cars 'talk' to each other to reduce traffic congestion and make the roads safer.

The University of Michigan's Transport Research Institute will use wireless technology to 'connect' the vehicles and warn the driver if any potential threat is detected on road. The vehicles will also be able to communicate with the traffic infrastructure and vice versa that is expected to reduce the number of crashes.

"The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute is playing a key role in the reduction of negative societal impacts associated with transportation around the world," said UMTRI Director Peter Sweatman in a press release.

The project called 'Safety Pilot Model Deployment' that kicked-off Tuesday will go on for a year in Ann Harbor roads, where nearly 3,000 vehicles equipped with Vehicle-to-Vehicle(V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure(V2I) communication devices will be experimented with volunteer drivers.

The connected vehicle systems will reportedly be able to change the traffic lights or alarm the driver about any change in the traffic lights is about to occur. The technology is said to be a variation of widely used Wi-Fi and called dedicated short ranged communication.

If the technology is installed in any vehicle, the person driving that particular vehicle will be able to track other vehicles' movement and in what speed it is moving when the other vehicle is within a pre-specified range. According to Reuters, the driver will also know whether his neighbouring vehicle is going to halt or accelerate. But, VIN and license plate number of vehicles will not be accessible.

The officials say they hope to gather 'extensive data about system operability and its effectiveness at reducing crashes' through these experimental tests.

"But until we see the data, until the study is complete, we won't know with certainty what promise it really has. A year from now I think we will," said Ray LaHood, the Transportation Secretary, to Reuters.

Only when the results of the experiment are obtained and assessed, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will decide whether to make this wireless technology mandatory for all vehicles.

The cars for the experiments are provided by motor honchos like General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp., and six other major companies.