Véronique Autphenne

While America has one of the best transportation systems in the world, problems like traffic congestion, accidents, and the need for road repairs are growing. Some feel that an automated highway system would address many of these problems.

The automated highway system is defined as "a lane or set of lanes where specially equipped cars, trucks and buses could travel together under computer control (Rillings, 1996)." It is one aspect of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), which apply electronics, computers and control technology developed for aviation, the space program and defense to the improvement of highways , vehicles and public transportation.

Automated highway systems combine magnetic sensors, computers, digital radio, forward-looking sensors, video cameras, and display technologies. Various combinations of these technologies are being applied in different pilot tests:

Magnetic sensors: Magnetic sensors could be imbedded along the highway lanes. Magnetometers under the car's bumpers would sense the magnets and automatically keep the cars in the center of the lane.

Networked Computers: The system would not rely on a central computer to direct the movement of all vehicles. Rather, networks of small computers would be installed in vehicles and along the sides of roadways to coordinate the flow of traffic.

Digital radio: Digital radio equipment in each car would allow the computer on board to communicate with other vehicles in the vicinity and with supervisory computers monitoring the roadway.

Forward looking sensors: Using either radar or an infrared laser, these sensors would detect dangerous obstacles and other vehicles ahead.

Video cameras: Linked to computers that process images rapidly, video cameras could detect dangerous obstacles and other vehicles ahead. They could also be used along with or instead of magnets to track lane boundaries.

Visual Displays: Mounted on the dashboard or projected onto the windshield, it would give the driver information about the operation of the vehicle.

A large-scale demonstration of such ICTs was held in Japan in 1996. A similar project run by the European Commission involves commercial vehicles. In the United States, several pilot tests of automated highway systems are underway, including a large scale Congressionally-mandated demonstration run by the National Automated Highway System Consortium in August 1997. This four-day demonstration, held in San Diego, involved the installation of digital communications equipment at the roadside and magnets down the center of both lanes. Other demonstration projects are in various phases throughout the country, including a $12 million Federal Highway Commission test in Nevada and a $17.3 million project in Virginia. In addition, over a dozen U.S. research universities gave major intelligent-vehicle research programs.

The history of the automated highway system goes back to a working model that was displayed at the 1939 World Fair's General Motors Pavillion. During the 1950s and 1960s, researchers at General Motors refined driverless vehicles, including robotic trucks. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Robert Fenton of Ohio State University demonstrated driverless cars on a test track. Although the test was successful, the early results were crude and hardly workable.

By the late 1980s, advances in microprocessors, wireless communications and other electronic sensors prompted a renewed interest in the automated highway, leading to the formation of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America in 1988, whose goal was to foster the introduction of automated highways. In 1991, Congress called for a prototype system and the National Automated Highway System Consortium (NAHSC) was formed. The NAHSC is a public-private partnership composed of approximately 1,000 members representing federal government agencies, vehicle industry, state/local government agencies, highway design industry, vehicle electronics industry, environmental interest groups, trucking operators, transit operators, transportation users, and the insurance industry.

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) passed by Congress in 1991 has been a driving force behind the recent developments in automated highway systems. ISTEA aims to improve the safety and efficiency of the existing transportation system. Marked by an unprecedented cooperation between the public and private sectors, the act launched an initiative to research, develop, test, and evaluate advanced electronic systems. The act would invest almost $5 billion of public money in transportation research and development over 20 years (Markus, 1996).

Features of ISTEA include a comprehensive program of basic and applied research on enabling technologies, over 70 operational tests of technologies and services, a long-term prototype development effort for an autmoated highway system, deployment planning studies in over 75 metropolitan areas, and eleven model deployment projects (Lindley, 1997).

According to a July 1994 study by the U.S. Office of Technology, Americans lose $100 billion annually in wasted time and spent fuel while sitting in traffic (Taylor, 1995). Many believe that congestion will only get worse and that with the continuing growth of urban areas, the price of building new roads and the lack of available space, expanding the existing infrastructure is increasingly viable as an option. Proponents therefore argue that the time is right to explore the feasibility of automated highway systems.

human error accounts for 90% of traffic accidents. Automated highway systems may make our roads safer by substituting for or complementing human judgment. It could also cut down on congestion and reduce commuting times.

Yet this system also brings with it potential problems, including the fear of drivers at having to give up their individual freedom. Another criticism is could have the unintended consequence of placing more single-occupancy vehicles on the road, and thus increasing pollution. ICTs are likely to increase the price of cars by approximately $1,000, which could make them less affordable to some. Finally, it raises questions about liability and whether it would shift from the individual driver to the auto company, traffic-control center, or another entity as responsibilities for accidents might become blurred.

The NAHSC estimates that the system will take 10 years to test and another 10 until it reaches widespread use. Public receptivity of this technology is yet to be determined. In the words of one consortium member, "Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should, or that anyone will want it, or be able to afford it, or be able to use it (Congress, 1997)."

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