By Grant Schwab, The Detroit News

LEESBURG, Virginia — Ten years after unveiling a prototype, a key public-private research effort is taking a major leap toward getting its advanced alcohol detection technology into the hands of the country’s top auto manufacturers.

“We’ve converted a wild, audacious idea that everybody thought would fail — people laughed us out of the room — into a viable technology suite,” said Rob Strassburger, president and CEO, Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety.

“I might just break down and start crying,” he said of the 10th anniversary . “This has been a very challenging effort, and a very interesting effort, technologically and scientifically. But we have never lost sight of why we’re doing this.”

Strassburger’s group is home to the Driver Alcohol Dete

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