In response to Congressional direction, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) has undertaken a three-phase Automated Highway System (AHS) program. Phase one, the Analysis phase, includes 15 one year studies that address the major issues and risks in the areas of AHS technology, design, deployment and operation. These studies, which were completed in November, 1994, are called the AHS Precursor Systems Analyses. This paper describes those studies and some of their key findings. The criteria against which the systems were evaluated were: a) accident prevention potential; b) increased traffic capacity; c) air quality; and d) trip quality (reduced driver stress). (A)
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