US officials plan to make carmakers equip new cars and light trucks with technology that lets vehicles communicate with each other in a bid to avoid deadly crashes.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama outlined the nation’s first comprehensive effort to curb vehicle emissions while cutting dependence on imported oil, calling the plan a historic turning point toward a “clean-energy economy”.

California’s attorney general is suing the six largest US and Japanese carmakers, including General Motors, Ford and Toyota, for damages related to greenhouse gas emissions.