Utility Companies

Cars are remarkably dumb and uncommunicative objects. They only started having any situational awareness of what's around them--other vehicles in the blind spot, for instance--a few years ago. And they still don't talk to each other. Electric cars--which usually pioneer a whole lot of technology--may be the first to get chatty. A consortium of eight global automakers and 15 large electric utilities are working on a common set of standards to allow cars to talk to the grid and vice versa. DON'T MISS: No, Electric Vehicles Won't Bring Down the U.S. Power Grid The long-term goal is to let...