ith surprisingly little fanfare, transportation experts are paving the way for a radic a l o v e r h a u l of highway systems and the vehicles that travel those roads. The concept behind intelligent vehiclehighway systems (IVHS) or “smart” highways is to use sophisticated technology to squeeze more transportation from existing roads, move vehicles more efficiently and faster, and improve highway safety. The environment, too, I would eain. IVHS [ proponents argue that smart highways will lower fuel consumption, ease pressure for new highway construction, aid in controlling a i r pollution, and make public transportation systems more attractive. “Many of the technoloeies have alreadyobeen applied to the air travel system and now have to be applied to ground transportation,” says John Vostrez, deputy executive director of the Intelligent Vehicle Highway Society of America (IVHS America, Washington, DC),a nonprofit association dedicated to promoting smart highways. Speaking at the recent Eco World convention in Washington, DC, Vostrez predicted that “much of the foundation research would be done in the next five years.” What Vostrez and other IVHS enthusiasts foresee is a transportation system that reacts quickly to changing traffic conditions. Centrally located traffic managers would constantly monitor roads, rerouting or controlling traffic in areas of congestion. Meanwhile, sophisticated computer models fed with real-time data on traffic conditions would anticipate problems, allowing controllers to act quickly. Vehicles would move quickly and in close formation on highways. Collision avoidance systems would warn of nearby dangers, and automatic braking would prevent accidents resulting from sudden stops.
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Alurough it reads like sciencefiction, more than 20 A?HS demonstration projects me in progress or planned throughout the United States.
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Passive sensors would detect traffic in the night and through fog or rain. Sophisticated electronic communications would keep drivers in touch with the outside world, allow a company to pinpoint the location of its vehicles, or, with a navigational computer, provide the driver with present location and directions. With automated controls in vehicles, the normal 12-foot-wide highway lanes might be narrowed to eight feet for passenger cars and 10 feet for trucks. Thus a four-lane highway tightly packed with smart cars could carry the traffic that now requires eight lanes. Users of public transportation systems or “ride-share” programs would also gain. Before heading out, they could access real-time schedule information. Their bus might electronically “signal” traffic lights, changing red lights to green as it traveled a special high-occupancy vehicle lane. Riders could park their cars at lots, transfer to a train, then to a city bus using a single electronic “smart card” to cover parking fees and transportation fares. Although it reads like science fiction, more than 20 IVHS demonstration projects are already in progress or planned throughout the United States. For instance, a consortium of New York and New Jersey agencies plans to test an electronic toll collection system that would speed cars equipped with electronic transponders through toll booths. And public transportation systems in Chicago, IL, and Ann Arbor, MI, are evaluating a microchip-containing smart card with information on the owner and the value or account to be debited. Yet the United States lags behind Japan and Europe in these enterprises. Since 1987 Japanese drivers around Tokyo and Yokohama City have had access to navigational aids, traffic information, and individual communications in their cars via roadside beacons. In western Europe, PROMETHEUS (Program for European Traffic with Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety i n Europe) was launched in 1986 as an eight-year R&D program focusing on electronic driver aids and vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-road communications. This was coupled with a program, DRIVE (Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in Europe), which was started in 1988 as an R&D study of controlled access to freeways, managed traffic control, and in-car navigation.
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These programs come at terrific cost. PROMETHEUS involves 70 research institutions and more than 100 companies, and is expected to cost $800 million. DRIVE, now in its second phase, will devour another $410 million. In Japan the addition of an electronic navigation system adds about $3000 to the sale price of a car. (Despite the cost, Japanese auto dealers have sold an estimated 200,000 of these systems.) The U.S. start may be slow in part because IVHS began primarily with state funding, particularly from California and Texas. Research universities and industry have become active in developing IVHS systems. Last December the federal government made a major commitment when President Bush signed the six-year, $660 million Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, which will fund a variety of IVHS activities. In its role as an official adviser to the Department of Transportation, IVHS America released this April a strategic plan for implementing IVHS in the United States (1).In the report the society estimates the cost of phasing in intelligent highways over 20 years at $40 billion! However, the predicted gains-reduced
congestion, fewer accidents, and consumer sales that could reach $170 billion over the same periodmore than compensate for these outlays. “Payoffs could come as fast as 10 months,” says Vostrez. In fact, the report predicts that 80% or more of the development and deployment costs of IVHS will be borne by the private sector. “We need to market IVHS as a product,” says Russ Steele of TRW. IVHS represents an ideal way for defenserelated companies like TRW to turn military technologies, such as the collision-avoiding microwave integrated circuits developed for jet fighters, into profitable peacetime products. The government could also profit directly from IVHS. Using the electronic toll collection system, governments could impose “congestion taxes” on vehicles that travel heavily used roads during rush hour. However, smart highways are not without drawbacks. Consumers would have to accept cars and trucks that will probably “drive” differently and certainly cost more. The technology also raises concerns about invasion of privacy. Finally, there are significant legal issues to
be clarified; for instance, would car or electronics manufacturers be liable for accidents with smart cars on smart highways? Yet if nothing is done transportation will deteriorate. Given current trends, by the year 2020 the number of vehicle miles driven by Americans is expected to double. Congestion and gridlock episodes will increase, wasting fuel and degrading air quality. IVHS America estimates that by 2011 smart highways could reduce current congestion in cities by 20%. To accomplish all of this requires a long-term commitment from government and industry. Adds Vostrez, “It’s a major change in the way we do business.” Reference (1) “Strategic P l a n for I n t e l l i g e n t V e h i cle-Highway Systems in t h e U n i t e d States”: I V H S America: Washington, DC, April, 1 9 9 2 . [ A v a i l a b l e f r o m I V H S A m e r i c a , 1 7 7 6 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., S u i t e 500, Washington, DC 20036; 202-857-1202.]
Alan Newman is an associate editor on the Washington staff of ES&T.
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