34AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (Bill Gorman) (04/19/91)
Index Number: 15027
Here is a longish article on developments in drive-by-wire, forwarded
from another list due to past interest here in the subject.
Would anyone like to bet that all the stuff being developed is not in
compliance with ADA requirements?
W. K. (Bill) Gorman
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The 14 April issue of the 'Los Angeles Times Magazine' features two articles on
Mobility 2000, an Intellignet Vehicle / Highway System or "drive-by-wire" (my
term, not theirs): THE BIG FIX by J.E. Ferrell and STREET SMART by Ronald B.
Taylor. The last major 'Los Angeles Times' article on this was in July '89
(see RISKS 9.10 et seq.).
California Dept. of Transportation (CalTrans) researchers project "no
revolutionary technological advances, just evolutionary applications" which
"will allow platoons of cars, separated by only a few feet, to zoom along at 90
mph while their drivers read the newpaper." Similar moves are under study or
development elsewhere in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.
Planners see financial, political, and cultural obstacles, but they are adamant
that smart traffic systems are "the only way to keep things moving."
They also say automated travel will be much safer, since more than 90% of all
vehicular accidents today are caused by human error. According to one
UCBerkeley researcher, future accidents will resemble airliner crashes: "You'll
be trading 100 accidents in which a total of 105 people get killed for two
accidents in which 30 people get killed."
Here are some of the pieces discussed in the stories:
* Pathfinder, an in-car navigational computer and information system.
* Advanced Traffic Management System to monitor and control traffic
flow via computers, sensors, and communications.
* Advanced Traveler Information System to link drivers with the
management system.
* Advanced Vehicle Control System -- high-tech vehicles and roadways.
* Freeway Real-Time Expert System Demonstration (FRED), a UCIrvine
project to "capture the expertise, judgment and knowledge of the
best traffic controllers and put it into a computer program."
* Parataxi, a computerized system to link up commuting drivers with
passengers on the spur of the moment.
* Transportation Resources Information Processing System (TRIPS)
allows travelers to tap into bus schedules and the parataxi service
* Roadway Electric Powered Vehicle, powered by batteries continually
charged by cables built into the roadway.
* Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control, installed for the 1984
Los Angeles Olympics, monitors corridor traffic lane-by-lane, and
controls stoplights and freeway on-ramp meters.