One possible way to relieve urban traffic congestion is to develop an automated highway system, with a lane or set of lanes where specially equipped cars, buses and lorries could travel together under computer control. Networks of small computers would be installed in vehicles and along the sides of certain roads, to increase efficiency and safety. Such an automatic traffic lane should be able to carry about 6000 vehicles per hour, compared with about 2000 for a typical motorway lane. The resulting economic savings would more than pay for the cost of the system's sophisticated electronic equipment. A working model of an automated highway was demonstrated as early as 1939, and prototypes of driverless vehicles were tested from the late 1950s on, but they were too crude for practical systems. Interest revived by the late 1980s, with advances in microelectronics and other technologies. This article describes what driving on an automated highway is like and considers the many modifications to conventional roads that would be needed. It describes some recent demonstrations, and considers what factors could still slow down or prevent the adoption of automated highways in practice, despite their technical feasibility. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 896880.
Abstract