INDEX

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1.1 What is Automated Highway

1.2 Major AHS Goals
1.3 AHS Technologies
1.4 The System Concept and Technologies

1.4.1 The Five Concept Families

1.5 Control Design of an Automated Highway System

1.5.1 The Five Layer Theory

1.5.2 On-board vehicle control system

1.5.3 Roadside Control System

1.6 AHS OVERVIEW

1.6.1 The Need for an AHS

1.6.2 AHS Concept

LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1 Maharashtra State Accident – Statistics

2.2 Information of Mumbai Pune Express Way. (Length, Lane, Places etc)

2.3 ACCIDENT COMPARATIVE REPORT 2018-2019

CASE STUDY OF JAPAN AUTOMATED HIGHWAY?

3.1 ITS History

3.2 Accident rate before and After Automation in Japan in a year?

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METHODOLOGY

4.1 How Automated Highway Works

4.2 LANE CHANGING MECHANISM

4.3 OVERTAKING

4.4 OVERTAKING AT NIGHT

4.5 ETC MECHANISM

4.6 SPEED LIMIT CONTROL

4.7 Vehicle Control

4.7.1 Lateral Control

4.7.2 Longitudinal Control
4.7.3 Combined Lateral and Longitudinal Control

4.8 Hierarchical Control Structure

4.9 Other AHS Issues

4.9.1 Sensors and Communication

4.9.2 Safety and Fault Tolerance
4.9.3 Human Factors

4.10 An Experimentation and Evaluation Framework for AHS

4.10.1. FLASH Laboratory

4.10.2. Smart Road

4.11 A Simulation Tool for AHS Systems: DYNAVIMTS

4.11.1. Software System Architecture

4.11.2. Components of DYNAVIMTS

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SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES FOR AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMS

5.1 Unclear Social and Environmental Impacts

5.1.1 Congestion at Entry and Exit

5.1.2 Unclear Impact on Land Use and Environment

5.2 The Dilemma of Transition From Conventional Highway to Automated Highway

5.3 Public Acceptance

5.4 Institutional Issues

5.4.1 Finance: Who Will Pay for AHS?

5.4.2 Organizational Issues

5.4.3 Liability issues

5.5 AHS Benefits

5.5.1 AHS PERFORMANCE OBJECTVE

5.5.2 AHS USER SERVICE OBJECTIVES

AHS Program Phases and the National Automated Highway Systems Consortium

6.1 The National AHS Consortium

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

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 INTORDUCTION
Automated highway system (AHS) is an intelligent transportation system, which removes
human drivers from the operation of vehicles during driving. This talk is focused on activities on
AHS at the California Partners of Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH). AHS includes control
problems from the vehicle level to the highway network level and offers a number of
challenging opportunities for intelligent mechatronics. For many years, scientists and engineers
have envisioned building an automated highway system (AHS) to increase both the safety and
efficiency of the nation's highways. In such a system, the vehicles become driving robots,
capable of sensing and reacting to the surrounding environment while the driver is free to do
other tasks. Automating the vehicle has significant potential advantages: it can reduce accidents
caused by driver error and can potentially increase traffic-carrying capacity and fuel economy
by eliminating human driver inefficiencies.

1.1 What is Automated Highway?

An Automated Highway System is a vehicle and road based system that can drives vehicle
automatically. This is done using sensors that serve as the vehicle’s eyes, determining lane
position and the speed and location of other vehicles. Actuators on the throttle, brake, and

4
steering wheel give the vehicle the commands that a driver normally would.AHS vehicles often
also have equipment to communicate with other AHS vehicles .The concept of an Automated
Highway has been around for a long time. General Motors displayed a working model of an
automated highway at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. Automated trains have been in
use since the 1960’s.But it has not been until recently that the technology has become available
to build automated highways and vehicles 

Automating the vehicle also presents difficulties: shifts in legal liability, issues of technical
feasibility, and questions of political and social acceptance make the design of an AHS highly
constrained, and often subject to heated debate. There is not yet consensus on exactly what
policies and configurations will be used in the operation of a fully deployed AHS. However, it is
clear that an automated system will require a number of common functions such as the ability
to stay in a traffic lane and to avoid collisions. Furthermore, a number of cost, technical, social,
and customer constraints make it seem likely that any deployment of AHS will need to be an
incremental one, as opposed to a fielding of a completely automated system from the
beginning (National Automated Highway System Consortium Stakeholder Workshop 3,
Minneapolis Minnesota, September 18-20, 1996, unpublished).

AHS was at that time called Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems (IVHS).Falling under the
general category of IT’S, the stated goals of the system were. Enhancement of surface
transportation efficiency. Achievement of national transportation safety goals. Protection and
enhancement of the natural environment and communities affected by surface transportation.
Accommodation of the needs of all users of surface transportation systems5. Improvement of
the Nation’s ability to respond to emergencies and natural disasters Because these goals were
so broad, the US Department of Transportation(USDOT) formed the Joint Program Office (JPO)
which brought together the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration,
and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and several other DOT administrations.
From 1992-1994, only research and analysis on IVHS was done. Engineers mainly worked on
human factors research and traffic safety analysis. 

Fig. 1.1

5
The Automatic highway system has been implemented in many cities and has now become an
important technique for management of traffic network. The various goals for introduction of
this technique in highway design are briefly described here:

• Improvement of safety and reduction on accidents which causes serious health fatalities,
personal incidents, stresses on driving and other sufferings.
• Economical advantage by reduction on investments, protection of money, increased
efficiency and proper architectural layout of highway systems.
• Provision of economical equipment, vehicles, low operation and maintenance cost as well
as reduced fee for the users of road network.
• Environmental conservation by proper consumption on non-renewable energy sources such
as fuels as well as reduction on labor, insurance costs
• Optimum design of the road network as well as vehicles which help by reducing cost of
construction and providing maximum benefits.
• Provision of high revenue collection after stating of automated vehicles, increment on the
customer numbers, less prone to accidents and highly developed security system for users
• Vehicles using alternative energy sources which can be operated using electricity can be
used on automated highway systems.
Provision of job opportunities from public level to military level can strongly help in
development of national economy.

1.2 Major AHS Goals

Major AHS Goals the AHS program is designed to influence how and when vehicle-highway
automation will be introduced. AHS deployments will be tailored to meet the needs of public,
commercial, transit, and individual travelers in rural and urban communities. The major goals
are to:
1. Improve safety by significantly reducing:
 Fatalities.
 Personal injury.
 Pain and suffering.
 Anxiety and stress of driving.

2. Save money and optimize investment by:

 Maximizing efficiency of the existing infrastructure investment.
 Integrating other ITS services and architecture to achieve smooth traffic flow.
 Using available and near-term applied technology to avoid costs of conventional
highway build-out.
 Developing affordable equipment, vehicles, infrastructure, operations,
Maintenance and user fees.
 Closing the gap on predicted infrastructure needs.

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  Using public/private partnerships for shared risk; using the National AHS
Consortium as a global focal point to influence foreign deployment efforts. Reducing
fuel consumption and costs, maintenance, wear-and-tear, labor costs, insurance
costs, and property damage.

3. Improve accessibility and mobility by:

 Improving employee on-time performance, resulting in a more effective work force.
 Facilitating "just-in-time" deliveries.
 Improving public transportation service, increasing customer access, and expanding
service levels, resulting in increased revenue, reduced costs, and reduced accidents.
 Achieving a smooth traffic flow, reducing delays, travel times, travel time variability,
and driver stress.
 Making driving more accessible to less able drivers.

4. Improve environmental efficiencies by:

 Reducing emissions per vehicle-mile travelled.
 Providing a solid base for reliable, lower cost transit.
 Providing an efficient base for electric-powered vehicles and alternative fuel
vehicles.

5. Create jobs by:

 Providing a stronger national economy and increasing global competitiveness.
 Increasing jobs in research and development and in early ITS deployment. Facilitating
technology transfer (e.g., from military to civilian use).
 Creating new U.S. automotive products and new technology-based industry to compete
in the international marketplace.

1.3 AHS Technologies

Not really--or at least not yet. An AHS facility will probably be a normal lane or two on an
existing freeway.

Initially, AHS will probably be deployed and operated on high-priority routes in high-demand
major urban and intercity freeway corridors. And an AHS car will look like a normal car. But
both facility and road will be outfitted with sophisticated control and communication devices
that will essentially put the vehicle in communication with the roadside. The car will "know"
what roadway conditions are like. The road will "offer" each vehicle options, navigation, and
advisories based on its conditions. While on the AHS facility, the vehicle will be operated under
automated control--similar to the autopilot control in aircraft.

7
The products, technologies, and concepts underlying AHS do, for the most part, currently exist.
For example, products now on the market or under development include sensors that detect
obstacles in vehicle blind spots, collision warning systems, and infrared vision enhancement
systems. Also, intelligent cruise control systems (systems that accelerate and decelerate in
response to the speed of the vehicle immediately ahead) are under development by
automobile manufacturers. In addition, concepts and products from the defense industry
advanced computing systems, sensors, advanced command and control, etc. are being applied.

Fig 1.2

"The automated highway program is perfectly positioned to harness these military technologies and
convert them for civilian use." Thus, over the next few years, an integrated system that uses all these
existing or developing technologies will be developed, and that system will be tested in more realistic
environments.

1.4 The System Concept and Technologies

Concepts of Automated Highway System (AHS) can be classified into two groups,
partially automated systems and fully automated systems, depending on the extent
of the automation. Partially automated systems include notification and warning
systems, temporary emergency controls and continuous partial controls, which
take limited control of the vehicle in emergency situations. They automate certain
routine parts of driving but rely on manual control for most driving functions. Fully
automated driving would let drivers be totally disengaged from all driving tasks.

8
1.4.1 The Five Concept Families

 Independent Vehicle Concept:

This concept puts a smart vehicle in the existing infrastructure. In-vehicle

technology lets the vehicle operate automatically with on-board sensors
and computers. The vehicle can use data from roadside systems but does
not depend on infrastructure support.

 Cooperative Concept:

This concept lets smart vehicles communicate with each other, although not
with the infrastructure. With on-board radar, vision, and other sensors,
these AHS-equipped vehicles will be able to communicate with each other
and coordinate their driving operations, thereby achieving best throughput
and safety.

 Infrastructure-Supported Concept:

A smart infrastructure can greatly improve the quality of AHS services and
better integrate AHS with local transportation networks. This concept
envisions automated vehicles in dedicated lanes using global information
and two-way communication with the smart infrastructure to support
vehicle decision-making and operation.

 Infrastructure-Assisted Concept:

In this concept, the automated roadside system provides inter-vehicle

coordination during entry, exit, merging, and emergencies. This concept
may provide the greatest throughput benefit; it also may require the
greatest civil infrastructure investment.

 Adaptable Concept:

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 This concept acknowledges the fact that AHS implementation will vary by
locality. It envisions the development of a wide range of compatible
standards that leave as many of the specific architecture decisions,
solutions, and deployment progressions as possible to area stakeholders.

The National Automated Highway System Consortium (NAHSC) defined several alternative AHS
concepts, from cooperative to fully automated, depending on the degree to which vehicles and
infrastructure work together as listed above.

Fig 1.3
1.5 CONTROL DESIGN OF AN AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEM

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 The Control Design of an Automated Highway System (Fig 1.4)

The Control design of an Automated Highway system can be looked upon the basis of a
5 layer theory which together comprise the two systems viz. the Onboard Vehicle
System and the Roadside System.

1.5.1 The Five Layer Theory

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The physical layer comprises all the on-board vehicle controllers of the physical
components of a vehicle. These include the engine and transmission, brake and
steering control systems, as well as the different lateral and longitudinal vehicle
guidance and range sensors. The main function of the physical layer is to decouple
the longitudinal and lateral vehicle guidance control and to approximately linearism
the physical layer dynamics.

The regulation layer is responsible for the longitudinal and lateral guidance of the
vehicle, and the execution of the man oeuvres ordered by the coordination layer.
The regulation layer must carry out two longitudinal control tasks. The first task is
that of a vehicle follower in a platoon and consists in maintaining a prescribed
constant spacing from the preceding vehicle. The second task is that of a platoon
leader or free agent and consists in safely and efficiently executing a man oeuvre
commanded by the coordination layer.

The coordination layer is responsible for selecting the activity that the vehicle
should attempt or continue to execute, in order to realize its currently assigned
activity plan. It communicates and coordinates its actions with its peers—the
coordination layers of neighboring vehicles—and supervises and commands the
regulation layer to execute or abort man oeuvres. It also communicates with the
link layer roadside control system, from which it periodically receives an updated
activity plan.

There is one link layer controller for each 0.5 to 5 km-long segment of the highway,
called a link. Its task is to control the traffic flow within the link so as to attain its full
capacity and minimize vehicle travel time and undesirable transient phenomena,
such as congestion. A link is itself subdivided in sections, one per lane. A link
receives and discharges traffic flow from and to neighboring links, as well as AHS
entrances and exits. The controller measures aggregated vehicle densities in each
of the link’s sections. These densities are specific to vehicle type, including origin
and destination, and whether the vehicle is a platoon leader, follower or is

12
 changing lanes. It broadcasts commands in the form of a specific activity plan for
each vehicle type and section, to the vehicle coordination layer controllers.

The link layer controller receives commands from the network layer in the form of
demands on the inlet traffic flows at the AHS entrances, and outlet flow constraints
at the AHS exits, as well as desired inlet-to-outlet traffic flow split ratios, in case a
vehicle can take more than one route to each the same destination, while travelling
in that highway link,

The task of the network layer is to control entering traffic and route traffic flow
within the network of highway links that constitute the AHS, in order to optimize
the capacity and average vehicle travel time of the AHS and minimize transient
congestion in any of its highway links.

1.5.2 On-board vehicle control system

The overall on-board vehicle control system comprises the control systems for the
coordination, regulation, and physical layers. Its primary objective is to safely
control the vehicle while efficiently executing its activity plan. By ―safely‖ it is
meant that the vehicle should not collide under normal circumstances, in the
absence of major hardware malfunction.

Fig 1.6

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 By ―efficiently‖ it is meant that the vehicle should complete the man oeuvres in its
activity plan in a manner that tends to optimize the capacity and traffic flow of the
AHS. This involves completing man oeuvres, such as join, split or change lane in the
minimum possible time, and performing platoon follower and leader laws while
maintaining as high a speed and as small a distance from the preceding vehicle as
practicable.

However, since the on-board vehicle control system does not have the overall AHS
capacity and traffic flow information, overall AHS optimality is not monitored or
guaranteed at this layer.

1.5.3 Roadside Control System

The roadside control system’s primary objective is to optimize the capacity and
traffic flow of the overall AHS. The models used in the link layer involve aggregated
vehicle densities and traffic flows but not individual vehicles. Thus, vehicle safety,
as defined in Section3, cannot be monitored, much less enforced. The roadside
control system can control the network and link layers in ways that tend to increase
vehicle safety, such as maintaining sufficiently low aggregated vehicle densities and
decreasing the inlet traffic flow into links.

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1.6 AHS OVERVIEW

1.6.1 The Need for an AHS

Today's vehicle-highway system functions surprisingly well with its more than 6 million
kilometers of streets, roads, and highways and its 190 million vehicles. However, it cannot
keep pace with society's increasing transportation needs. Driven by population growth, the
demand for mobility as a fundamental economic need is in direct conflict with our ability to
fund new conventional highways and maintain a clean environment. The total vehicle
kilometers traveled in the nation is predicted to nearly double by the year 2020, and our
population will grow 50 percent by the middle of the twenty-first century. We will need to
make more efficient use of existing transportation facilities.

Although traffic fatalities have decreased significantly in recent years, there are still more
than 40,000 lives lost annually on the nation's highways, and there are more than 1,700,000
serious disabling injuries. The annual cost to the nation in dollars is estimated at more than
$156 billion.

Traffic volume has increased anywhere from 38 and 54 percent for each of the last three
decades. Because system capacity has not kept pace with peak demand, 70 percent of all
urban interstate peak-hour traffic is congested, and this figure is predicted to grow to 80
percent by the year 2000. 5 A large portion of this congestion is caused by .incidents on our
highways (e.g., crashes, breakdowns, obstacles in the lane). Congestion is projected to
worsen by 300 to
400 percent over the next 15 years unless significant changes are
Made in the surface transportation system.6 in many areas, the traditional solution of
building more lanes is becoming less viable because of limited rights-of-way, cost, citizens'
concerns about the impact on the quality of life in their communities, and environmental
requirements.

Today, congestion alone costs the nation an estimated $100 billion in lost productivity
annually.7 It also increases driver frustration and discomfort as congestion becomes worse
and travel times become less predictable. Also, some drivers, including the elderly, are
intimidated or frightened by highway travel. Moreover, fuel consumption will rise as trip times
increase due to either length of the trip or time delays. In addition, predictability of delivery
times will become less reliable, thereby increasing the frustration of customers of the shipping
industry.

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As traffic volume and congestion continue to increase, methods to reduce exhaust emissions
will be necessary to maintain air quality. The key emissions produced by individual vehicles
have decreased between 70 percent (oxides of nitrogen) and 100 percent (lead) since 1970.
Nevertheless, the vehicle-highway system is still one of the largest contributors to air pollution in
urban areas as a result of increases in the vehicle kilometers traveled, vehicles idling in
congestion, and the driving habits of the vehicle operators. The nation's concern is reflected in
the Clean Air Act, which has established emission guidelines that must be accommodated in
transportation planning. Therefore, the vehicle-highway system must continuously strive to
meet this demand. In particular, the system must improve in the areas of safety, congestion,
air quality, and trip quality. The AHS program addresses fundamental human limitations to
improving the vehicle-highway system, such as driver reaction times and fatigue. These factors
are major contributors to accidents and congestion on our nation's highways. "Automated
vehicle control" directly addresses these issues. It is because of human limitations that
automation is essential for improving our vehicle-highway system. To illustrate, the most
common form of crash is the rear-end collision. Ten percent of all cars and 25% of all trucks
experience a crash of this type during the vehicle's lifetime.8 Single vehicle roadway departure
and lane change/merge crashes represent about 32% of all accidents Often times
secondary accidents occur with each primary accident as a result of gawking, intrusion, and
obstacles associated with the primary incident. The fatality rate is sharply higher at night: the
night fatality rate is twice as high in urban and three times as high in rural areas compared
with the day rate.10 More than 40% of the fatal crashes involve impaired drivers (drivers
under the influence of alcohol, or experiencing drowsiness and fatigue). In addition, about
25% of crashes that result in fatalities occur on wet or icy roads. Finally, a lane volume of 2,200
vehicles per hour may be close to what humans can safely manage, and in many cases this
rate is not achieved because of weaving or distractions such as stalls, collisions, or incidents in
other lanes.

1.6.2 AHS Concept

The NAHSC has established the fundamental guidelines and capabilities for the AHS concept. An
AHS will safely operate properly equipped vehicles under automated control on properly
equipped lanes. Human errors and inefficiencies will be virtually eliminated when all vehicles
in the lane are fully automated. It is currently assumed that AHS lanes will be adjacent to,
and similar in structure to, the other highway lanes. Entry to the AHS may be similar to entry
to some of today's high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes or through dedicated entry stations.
The fully automated AHS will be developed through a planned progression from today's
vehicle-highway system. This transition will be simplified because some of the basic services
needed for an AHS are starting to appear in today's vehicles and highway systems. Use of
these services is expected to increase during the next decade. Metropolitan areas are

16
already upgrading their highway infrastructure with such services as electronic toll systems
for nonstop toll collection, and automated incident detection for faster responses to crashes
and other incidents. All have the potential to improve the efficiency of highway systems. The
AHS will build on and guide this progression to ensure vehicle and infrastructure compatibility.
With nationwide planning and vehicle and infrastructure integration, AHS will result from
logical progressive steps over time.

An AHS will use modem electronics to safely and efficiently move AHS equipped vehicles along
instrumented, dedicated highway lanes under fully automated vehicle control with no driver
involvement required. Manually driven vehicles will be denied access to the AHS lanes. AHS-
equipped vehicles will be able to operate under manual control on conventional lanes. On
conventional lanes, the driver may choose to use partial automated vehicle control capabilities
(e.g., adaptive cruise control). This mode of operation known as "partial-AHS" will offer
some increase in safety and reduced driving strain compared to completely manual operation
while on highway lanes used by all vehicles.

AHS will be able to accommodate private, commercial, and transit vehicles. The extent of
support for each type of vehicle is likely to be a local implementation decision.

The AHS primary system control may require interaction between the vehicle and the
roadway. This interaction will be a non-contact electronics-based design as opposed to a
mechanical, physical contact design.
The AHS will consist of at least two major subsystems: the vehicles and an infrastructure. The
vehicle subsystem will contain the portion of the system that actually moves along an AHS. The
vehicle subsystem includes sensors, data processing, actuator, linkage, and communications
equipment. The AHS will automate the following driver functions to control vehicle movement.

1. AHS Entry - The system will enter vehicles onto the automated highway with
simultaneous speed adjustment between several vehicles to successfully merge
vehicles.

2. AHS Exit - The system will move vehicles from the AHS lane and will return control of the
vehicle to the driver after ensuring that the driver is prepared to safely operate the
vehicle.

3. Object Detection and Collision Warning/Avoidance - The system will detect moving
and stationary objects on the automated lanes and will avoid collisions with these
objects.

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 4. Longitudinal Vehicle Control - The system will adjust the vehicle speed, both to
maintain a safe overall speed (as influenced by environmental conditions), and the
appropriate longitudinal distance between vehicles
5. Lateral Vehicle Control - The system will steer the vehicle by sensing the lane
boundaries or lane centers of the automated lane and control vehicle steering to keep
the vehicle in the lane, coordinating lane changes and entry/exit maneuvers.
6. Navigation - The system will track the vehicle's position on the highway network to
ensure that the vehicle leaves the system at the driver's desired exit or guide the
vehicle to another exit of the desired exit becomes unavailable.
7. Maneuver Coordination - Using the vehicle's absolute or relative position on the
highway with communication between vehicles, the system will coordinate vehicle
maneuvers.

The infrastructure subsystem will contain all other aspects of the AHS not found in the vehicle.
This includes, but is not limited to, communications equipment, roadways, control centers,
sensors, and operations and maintenance facilities.

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 LITERATURE SURVEY

The earliest systematic study of automated highway capacity appears to be the paper by Rumsey and
Powner (1974), which examined a moving-cell operating concept. Recently, however, the interest in
automated highways has focused more on the platooning concept, as introduced by Shladover (1979).

In order to deploy AHS capabilities, the uncertainties in the research and development of new
technology must be managed well. Additionally, it is impractical to introduce fully automated
vehicles on all highways instantaneously. Incremental deployment, then, is a significant issue,
and several alternative strategies have been proposed. One strategy advocates the deployment
of fully automated vehicles on dedicated lanes, but restricts the deployment to heavily used
roadway segments equipped with special-purpose AHS guidance infrastructure. Another
strategy is to introduce AHS capabilities onto mass transit vehicles for use on existing High
Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, subject to the supervision of a safety driver. A third general
strategy involves gradually increasing the degree of automation of new and refitted vehicles
over time, with both AHS vehicles and manually driven vehicles sharing essentially all interstate
highways.

This paper does not assume that any one of the above deployment strategies will be
implemented. Rather, it presents the set of functions and sequencing constraints that are likely
to be involved in deploying an AHS.

Whichever deployment strategy is used, the system will need to contain some subset of the
reference models’ functionality to be considered a partial AHS. And, no matter the deployment
strategy selected, substantially all of the functions will need to be implemented to achieve a
complete AHS. This paper begins by presenting the baseline functional evolution reference
model of an autonomous robotic vehicle, assuming that inter-vehicle communications are not
universally available. An expanded reference model is then presented that includes the use of
inter-vehicle communications, and is used to illustrate functions that are enhanced or enabled
for the first time.

Finally, a fully elaborated reference model is presented that adds Communications with
roadside intelligence (highway infrastructure support), enhancing and enabling even more
functions. These three reference models illustrate important technical dependencies, highlight
the effects of communication and infrastructure support on the deployment of autonomous
vehicle systems, and can be used as a roadmap for tracing the development and potential
usage of the functions inherent to an AHS.

19
 2.1 Maharashtra State Accident – Statistics

Last 3 years Statistics of Road Accidents in Maharashtra

ROAD ACCIDENTS IN MAHARASHTRA

FATAL GRIEVOUS INJURY MINOR INJURY WITHOUT TOTAL
YEAR
Accident Killed Accident Injured Accident Injured INJURY ACCIDENTS

2017 11454 12511 12333 20767 7098 1147 5171 36056

7
2018 12098 13261 12648 20335 6585 1103 4386 35717
0

2019 11787 12788 12197 19152 5473 947 3568 32925

6

Diff -3 -4 -4 -6 -17 -14 -19 -8

%

The above statistic shows that there was an increase in fatalities and grievous injuries in 2018
as compared to 2017, but there is a reduction of 4% in fatalities, 6% in grievous injury and
8% in total accidents respectively in 2019 as compared to 2018. In the year 2019, the total
number of road traffic accidents was 32,925 which is a decrease by 8% over 2018. These
accidents were responsible for a death toll of 12,788 in the year 2019. The available data
translate into 38.8% persons killed per hundred accidents in the year 2019 in Maharashtra.
Further, about 90 accidents and 35 deaths take place every day on the road which translates
into losses of 3 lives every 2 hours on an average in the state. As of 2019, the total number of
registered motor vehicles was 23.1 lakh. During the same year, the road length was 2, 67,452
kilometers. These road networks consist of national highways, state highways, district roads,
rural and village roads. The economic loss to the country due to road traffic accidents is 3.7% of
GDP.

Out of 12,788 fatalities, 25% of deaths occurred in 3 districts i.e. Pune (1,329), Nashik (960) and
Ahmednagar (873). In Mumbai City the 2872 accident registered resulted in 447 fatalities.

20
As compared to 2018, in 2019, Satara district shows an alarming increase in accidents by 83%
and fatalities by 120%; while Ratnagiri shows a 37% reduction in accidents. Thane Rural
(accidents 21%, Fatality 26%) and Washim district (accidents-16%, Fatality-23%) shows
reduction in accidents and fatalities.

Though road accident ranks among the Top 10 causes of human death, it gets neglected due to
the prevalent belief that it is a random event and at best considered unintended, inevitable and
unpredictable. In Maharashtra, the leading cause of road accidents is mainly due to driver fault
among others.

Highest number of accidents, 3228 and 3245 respectively and fatalities 1203 and 1146
respectively occurred in the month of May and January, maybe due to holidays more number of
vehicles on less acquainted roads, is the reason of these accidents.

Fig 2.1

Lowest accidents occurred in October (2201) and fatalities in September i.e. 784 could be owing
to the rainy season resulting in fewer vehicles on the road. Also, transportation of agricultural
produce is less during this period.

Accidents in Rural areas are more than Urban areas. 60% accidents occurred in Rural areas and
40% accidents in Urban areas. In rural areas, mostly on National Highways, good condition of
roads leads to over speeding and accidents. The major cause of accidents on State Highways is
head-on collision of vehicles while overtaking.

21
Most of the accidents occurred during day time. 55% of accidents happened during day time
and 45% of accidents happened during night time. Maximum people around 18% were killed
between 18.00 hrs. to 21.00 hrs. Around 6.5% killed between 3.00 am to 6.00 am.

Considering the effects of weather conditions on accidents, around 96% of accidents happened
in sunny or clear daylight and 3.5% happened in rainy weather conditions

26% of accidents happened on National Highways and 24% of accidents happened on State
Highways. In 2019, as compared to previous year, 23% fewer accidents were registered and
22% fewer people were killed on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The main reason for reduction
in accidents and fatalities is due to the all-round efforts taken by the Highway police, MSRDC
officials and the representatives of NGO ‘Save Life Foundation’.

32% of people killed in accidents in residential areas and 10% killed in market or
commercial area sespecially in cities. 8% of accidents occurred in Institutional areas.

Fig 2.2

76% accidents occurred on straight roads, 13.5% died in accidents on curved roads, 2.7% died
where the road are under construction. 61 people died due to pot holes on roads. 363 people
died on roads having a steep gradient.

Classifying accidents that occurred at junctions, it is found that, the highest number of
accidents happened at T- Junctions in the State. 1281 people died on different type of
junctions. 579 people died at T-Junction and 463 people died at Four Arm or Square Junctions.
118 people died while jumping the red light.

22
24 killed on Zebra Crossing by speeding vehicles and 67 killed on footpaths by dangerous
drivers that rammed pedestrians on footpaths. As compared to last year, this figure is 80% and
55% less respectively.

3774 pedestrian died on the road, out of which 1428 were hit by two-wheelers and 991 by light
motor vehicles. 5894 people died in two wheeler accidents ,the main reason being not wearing
helmets. 2029 killed in Light Motor vehicles i.e. Car, Jeep, etc. 627 are killed in accidents of
Trucks or Heavy Vehicles. Out of 1689 registered accidents of buses, 246 people were killed.

35% of accidents involved vehicles which were less than 5-year old and 34.6% of vehicles up to
5-10 year-old.

1162 people died in 2613 accidents which occurred due to overloaded vehicles. It includes
overloaded goods vehicles and passenger vehicles. Over-speeding or negligence of traffic
related rules could be the primary reason for the high number of accidents by normally loaded
and empty vehicles.

Highest number of cases have been registered against people parking vehicles in “No Parking”
areas. Over 22,65,142 cases were registered for No parking violation in Maharashtra during
2019.

Fig 2.3

23
Over speeding is one of the leading causes of road accidents and deaths across India and
Maharashtra. Earlier, in State, these cases were registered only in mega cities like Mumbai,
Pune and Nagpur with the help of CCTV cameras. In the month of November-2019, 96
Interceptor vehicles were purchased and distributed to all police units of the State. These are
well equipped with Laser Speed Gun, Breath Analyzer, Tint Enforcement Meter, etc. which help
police to identify motorists driving beyond permissible speed limits. This helps to discipline
drivers and reduce accidents on highways and in rural areas.

2.2 Information of Mumbai Pune Express Way. (Length, Lane, Places etc)

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is India's first six-lane concrete, high-speed, access controlled
tolled expressway.[1] It spans a distance of 94.5 km connecting Mumbai, the administrative
capital of Maharashtra state and the financial capital of India, with Pune, an industrial and
educational hub.[2] The expressway, which was fully operationalized in 2002, introduced new
levels of speed and safety in automobile transportation to Indian roads. [3] It is one of India's
busiest roads.[4]

The expressway has reduced the travel time from Mankhurd where Mumbai city ends to Pune
to about two hours. It has supplemented the older Mumbai-Pune National Highway (old NH 4)
which had become extremely congested and accident-prone. (NH 4 has been renumbered NH
48 after renumbering of all national highways by National Highway Authority of India in 2010
year.) The expressway starts at Kalamboli (just before Panvel) and ends at Dehu Road (just
before Pune). It cleaves through the scenic Sahyadri mountain ranges through passes and
tunnels. It has six interchanges: Shedung, Chowk, Khalapur, Lonavala, Kusgaon and Talegaon.

Mumbai-Pune Express Highway (Fig 2.4)

24
The expressway has two carriageways, each with three concrete lanes, separated by a central
divider and a tarmac or concrete shoulder on either side. Vehicles with fewer than four wheels
and agricultural tractors are not permitted, although tractor-trailers (semi-trailer rigs) are
permitted. The expressway handles about 43,000 PCUs daily, [4] and is designed to handle up to
1,000,000 PCUs. This road has improved transport between these two metro cities.

The Government of Maharashtra appointed RITES and Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick in 1990 to carry
out feasibility studies for the new expressway to be operated on toll basis. RITES submitted it
report in 1994 with the estimated cost of project at 11.46 billion (US$180 million).

The government of Maharashtra entrusted the work of the construction of Mumbai-Pune

expressway to MSRDC in March 1997 on Build-Operate-Transfer basis with permission to collect
toll for 30 years. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India gave
environmental clearance on 13 October 1997 and forest clearance on 11 November 1997.

The tender notice was published in leading newspapers all over India and also on the Internet.
Due to the wide publicity, 133 tenders were sold and 55 tenders were received on 18 December
1997. After technical and financial evaluation, work orders were given on 1 January 1998 to
four contractors. Thereafter tenders for widening of Khandala and Lonavala-Khandalabypass
works were invited. The tenders were received on 24 August 1998 and orders were issued on 4
September 1998.

Mumbai-Pune Express Highway Fig (2.5)

25
Previous 1 Year data of Accidents on highway, date rate and Reasons?

DISTRIBUTION OF ACCIDENTS BY TIME OF OCCURRENCE

The 155 accidents were plotted against time durations of 6 hours (figure 7) to identify times of
Occurrence. The data shows highest percentage of accidents (34%, 54 accidents by count)
Occurred between 06:00 to 11:59 hrs. The highest percentages of accidents resulting in
fatal/serious injury occurred during the time periods of 00:00 to 05:59 hrs and 06:00 to 11:59
hrs (31.5%, 31 accidents by count).

FIGPERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF ACCIDENTS BY TIME OF OCCURRENCE

VEHICLES/ROAD USERS INVOLVED

A total of 256 vehicles/road users (240 vehicles and 16 pedestrians) were involved in the 155
expressway crashes examined in the year 2016. Figure 2 shows the percentage distribution of
the types of vehicles/road users involved in these accidents.

26
 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF VEHICLE/ROAD USER TYPE INVOLVED.

Accidents in a Year on Pune Mumbai Express way-

Sr. No Vehicle Type Accident

1 Bus 1142

2 Heavy / Truck 854

3 Passenger Vehicle 8547

4 Two Wheeler 9578

5 Car 8547

6 Other 6658

27
 ACCIDENTS CLASSIFIED ON MUMBAI - PUNE EXPRESS WAY

GRIEVOUS INJURED MINOR INJURY

FATAL ACCIDENTS
ACCIDENTS ACCIDENTS
Without
Total
YEAR Injury
Total Accident
Total Accident
No. of Total No. of Grievous No. of
Minor
Accident Killed Accident Injured Accident
Injured

2016 97 151 61 153 14 26 109 281

2017 89 105 94 147 21 44 156 360

2018 96 110 72 151 16 23 174 358

2019 74 86 67 162 27 31 185 353

RATIO -22.9 -21.8 -6.9 7.3 68.8 34.8 6.3 -1.4

28
 97
ACCIDIENTS 89
96
74

151
105
110
FATALITIES 86

153
147
151
GRIEVOUS INJURY 162

26
44
MINOR INJURY 23
31

2016201720182019

ALL MAHARASHTRA YEAR-WISE ACCIDENTS

29
 SERIOUSLY INJURED MINOR INJURY
FATAL ACCIDENTS
ACCIDENTS ACCIDENTS
WITHOUT
TOTAL
SR. NO. YEAR Total INJURY
No. of Total No. of No. of Total Minor ACCIDENTS ACCIDENTS
Seriously
Accident Killed Accident Accident Injured
Injured

1 2016 11780 12935 13273 22273 8554 13611 6271 39878

2 2017 11454 12511 12333 20767 7098 11477 5171 36056

3 2018 12098 13261 12648 20335 6585 11030 4386 35717

4 2019 11787 12788 12197 19152 5473 9476 3568 32925

RATIO -3 -4 -4 -6 -17 -14 -19 -8

36056 35717
32925

22273
20767 20335
19152

12935 13611 13261

12511 12788
11477 11030
9476

2016 2017 2018 2019

39878 36056 35717 32925
ACCIDIENTS 12935 12511 13261 12788
FATALITIES 22273 20767 20335 19152
GRIEVOUS INJURY 13611 11477 11030 9476
MINOR INJURY
30
  The Highest number of accidents are recorded in the month of January (3245), followed by
May (3228) and March (3030).
 41416 people involved in 32925 road accidents across different regions of Maharashtra in
2019.
 36% of road accidents in Maharashtra result in fatalities.
 Road accidents in Maharashtra has decreased by 7.8% as compared to 2018 and the
 number people has also decreased in the same proportion by 7.2%
 Out of overall people involved in road accidents in Maharashtra 31% people get killed.
 Death % in road accidents in Maharashtra has pushed itself with a marginal difference as
compared to last year in 2018(29.7%) and 2019(30.9%)

2.3 ACCIDENT COMPARATIVE REPORT 2018-2019

YEAR 2018 YEAR 2019 Comparative %

Sr. No District Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total Total
Accident Killed Injured Accident Killed Injured Accident Killed Injured

1 Akola 499 161 491 487 165 473 -2 2 -4

2 Amaravati (R) 644 213 439 559 231 542 -13 8 23

3 Buldhana 648 304 628 572 319 421 -12 5 -33

4 Yavatmal 1401 350 550 1048 366 494 -25 5 -10

5 Washim 290 142 215 245 110 180 -16 -23 -16

6 Aurangabad (R) 713 383 514 558 324 383 -22 -15 -25

7 Jalna 400 205 322 424 188 416 6 -8 29

8 Beed 641 338 383 595 353 420 -7 4 10

9 Osmanabad 696 317 718 714 264 611 3 -17 -15

31
10 Nanded 711 270 567 699 266 483 -2 -1 -15

11 Latur 633 246 394 641 290 364 1 18 -8

12 Parbhani 320 123 242 291 108 207 -9 -12 -14

13 Hingoli 313 131 444 289 123 326 -8 -6 -27

14 Kolhapur 940 404 917 930 363 963 -1 -10 5

15 Pune (R) 2280 1009 1495 1763 852 1078 -23 -16 -28

16 Sangli 797 359 781 756 293 790 -5 -18 1

17 Satara 486 216 482 890 476 709 83 120 47

18 Solapur (R) 1044 562 926 1065 531 931 2 -6 1

19 Bhandara 413 151 488 393 146 420 -5 -3 -14

20 Chandrapur 629 297 554 607 267 498 -3 -10 -10

21 Gadchiroli 262 156 318 252 157 349 -4 1 10

22 Gondia 290 174 320 265 160 324 -9 -8 1

23 Nagpur (R) 996 346 981 843 384 950 -15 11 -3

24 Wardha 529 213 526 488 187 507 -8 -12 -4

25 Ahmednagar 1604 855 957 1691 873 1051 5 2 10

26 Dhule 961 314 1099 860 313 950 -11 0 -14

27 Jalgaon 852 422 838 835 454 770 -2 8 -8

28 Nasik (R) 1598 824 1305 1300 783 1217 -19 -5 -7

29 Nandurbar 499 177 618 410 157 414 -18 -11 -33

30 Raigad 1098 302 1149 991 216 1130 -10 -28 -2

31 Ratnagiri 749 163 1059 469 137 515 -37 -16 -51

32 Sindhudurg 260 89 305 202 76 217 -22 -15 -29

33 Thane (R) 898 301 642 711 222 576 -21 -26 -10

32
34 Palghar 1360 505 906 1270 442 804 -7 -12 -11

35 Nagpur (C) 1117 237 1187 1007 250 1042 -10 5 -12

36 Pune (C) 1194 352 891 791 206 626 -34 -41 -30

37 Thane (C) 990 249 998 874 217 794 -12 -13 -20

38 Mumbai (C) 3162 475 3292 2872 447 2925 -9 -6 -11

39 Nasik (C) 581 217 557 553 177 540 -5 -18 -3

40 Aurangabad (C) 567 161 493 560 199 434 -1 24 -12

41 Solapur (C) 244 92 166 225 84 168 -8 -9 1

42 Navi Mumbai 734 277 651 744 249 728 1 -10 12

43 Amravati (C) 453 90 376 465 92 394 3 2 5

44 Pimpri Chinchwad 221 89 181 721 271 494 0 0 0

TOTAL 35717 13261 31365 32925 12788 28628 -8 -4 -9

33
CASE STUDY OF JAPAN AUTOMATED HIGHWAY ?

Japan, with a population density almost 12 times greater than the United States, has an abiding
interest in developing intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to resolve its traffic congestion
and other transportation problems. Indeed, the Japanese Comprehensive Automobile Traffic
Control System (CACS) program from 1973 to 1979 was the first publicprivate partnership effort
in Japan -- perhaps in the world -- to test in urban areas an interactive route guidance system
with an in-vehicle display unit.

But recently, Japanese officials have started looking at ITS from a much greater perspective. ITS
is an essential element in creating a global advanced information and telecommunications
society. This advanced society will realize the free generation, circulation, and sharing of
information and knowledge that are the products of all human intellectually creative activities,
thus leading to a new socioeconomic system that can forge a balance between living/culture,
industry/business, and nature/environment. As a result, it is expected that there will be an
expansion of economic frontiers, balanced national land development, and the creation of a
standard of living for the people such that they can realize a truly comfortable and affluent
lifestyle.

34
 Express Highway of Japan (Fig 3.1)

To put this in context, let's briefly review the history of ITS before taking a look at the Japanese
approach to ITS and the status of development efforts in Japan.

3.1 ITS History

I see three stages in the history of ITS to date.

Stage 1 is the beginning of ITS research in the 1960s and 1970s. This early research was
characterized by Japan's CACS, the Electronic Route Guidance System (ERGS) in the United
States, and a similar system in Germany. All of these systems shared a common emphasis on
route guidance and were based on central processing systems with huge central computers and
communications systems. Due to limitations, these systems never resulted in practical
application.

The next period from 1980 through about 1995 could be called stage 2. Conditions for ITS
development had improved by the 1980s. Technological reforms, such as the advent of mass
memory, made processing cheaper. New research and development efforts directed at practical
use got under way. In Japan, work on the Road/Automobile Communication System (RACS)
project, which formed the basis for our current car navigation system, began in 1984. Two
projects were going on in Europe at the same time: the Program for a European Traffic System
with Higher Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety (PROMETHEUS), which was mainly set up by
auto manufacturers, and the Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in Europe
(DRIVE), set up by the European Community. The U.S. Intelligent VehicleHighway Systems
(IVHS) project was also progressing.

35
It seems to me that we have now entered a new stage -- Stage 3. Several trends support this
view. First, we are beginning to see practical application of earlier programs. Second, we are at
last beginning to understand the full potential of ITS, and intelligent transportation systems are
being thought of in intermodal terms rather than simply in terms of automobile traffic. Third,
intelligent transportation systems have started to gain recognition as critical elements in the
national and international overall information technology hierarchy.

3.2 Accident rate before and After Automation in Japan in a year?

Before Automation-

Sr No Vehicle Type Accident

1 Bus 545
2 Heavy / Truck 85
3 Passenger Vehicle 654
4 Two Wheeler 850
5 Car 541
6 Other 658

36
After Automation-

Sr No Vehicle Type Accident

1 Bus 246

2 Heavy / Truck 32

3 Passenger Vehicle 342

4 Two Wheeler 352

5 Car 152
6 Other 354

METHODOLOGY

4.1 How Automated Highway Works

While in an automated highway system, a car will be guided by the road rather than by the
driver. This will be done by the Sensors and communication devices which will link the road and
the vehicle to maximize driving performance. In such cases the driver error will be reduced and
ultimately the full implementation be eliminated.

driver electing to use such an automated highway might first pass through a validation lane,
similar to today's high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) or carpooling lanes. The system would then
determine if the car will function correctly in an automated mode, establish its destination, and
deduct any tolls from the driver's credit account. Improperly operating vehicles would be
diverted to manual lanes.

37
 Fig 4.1

The driver would then steer into a merging area, and the car would be guided through a gate
onto an automated lane. An automatic control system would coordinate the movement of
newly entering and existing traffic. Once travelling in automated mode, the driver could relax
until the turnoff. The reverse process would take the vehicle off the highway. At this point, the
system would need to check whether the driver could retake control, then take appropriate
action if the driver were asleep, sick, or even dead.

Fig 4.2

38
The alternative to this kind of dedicated lane system is a mixed traffic system, in which
automated and non-automated vehicles would share the roadway. This approach requires
more-extensive modifications to the highway infrastructure, but would provide the biggest
payoff in terms of capacity increase.

In fact, a spectrum of approaches can be envisioned for highway automation systems in which
the degree of each vehicle's autonomy varies. On one end of the range would be fully
independent or "free-agent" vehicles with their own proximity sensors that would enable
vehicles to stop safely even if the vehicle ahead were to apply the brakes suddenly. In the
middle would be vehicles that could adapt to various levels of cooperation with other vehicles
(platooning). At the other end would be systems that rely to a lesser or greater degree on the
highway infrastructure for automated support. In general, however, most of the technology
would be installed in the car.

4.2 LANE CHANGING MECHANISM

You might need to change lanes on roads with more than one lane in the same
direction. You may want to change lanes to overtake another vehicle, to avoid a
parked vehicle or when the vehicle ahead slows to turn at an intersection.

Always give proper signal before changing lanes and ensure the move can be made safely.

39
 Fig 4.3

Steps for changing lanes-

 Check for a space in traffic where you can enter safely.

 Check your blind spot by looking over your shoulder in the direction of the lane change.
Give an indicator in the direction you want to move.
 Recheck to ensure the way is clear and that no one is coming at a fast speed from
behind.
 Turn steadily into the new lane.

Methodology Used-
The system consists of four subsystems: the sensor (video camera), image processing, the
controller and the vehicle as shown.

40
 The four subsystems of a vision-based autonomous vehicle driving control system (Fig 4.4)

1. Sensor

The sensor is the key element of an autonomous vehicle system, because it provides the
information about a driving scenario. The system discussed here uses a single video camera as a
sensor. To get the input data from the image, the video image sequences must be captured.
The input data of this system is provided by colour image sequences taken from a moving
vehicle. A single colour video camera is mounted inside the vehicle behind the wind shield
along the central line. This records the images of the environment in front of the vehicle,
including the road, the vehicles on the road, traffic signs on the roadside and, sometimes,
incidents on the road. The video camera saves the video images in AVI file format, then the
video file is transferred to the computer. The image processing subsystem takes an image from
the memory and starts processing it in order to detect the desired lane.

2. Image Processing and Analysis for Predicting and Detecting the vehicle lane

41
 The goal of the image processing is to extract information about the position of the vehicle
with respect to the road from the video image. Two major processes are implemented: the
preprocessing process and then the lane detection process. The goal of pre-processing is to
remove image noise and make the images sharper. The goal of lane detection is to detect the
desired lane of the vehicle in order to obtain the look-ahead distance and the lane angle. This
process is based on the real-time data of video sequences taken from a vehicle driving on the
road. The four processing steps of the lane detection algorithm are image segmentation, edge
detection.

Image processing steps of the lane detection algorithm.(Fig 4.5)

3. Regions of interest measurement and features extraction using Color Cue

Segmentation

Segmentation of the images is crucial for the analysis of the driving environment. Parts of the
traffic scenes can be recovered by extracting geometric features in order to infer and verify the
existence of certain categories of objects. Another relevant method of segmentation is based
on region growing and clustering. The effectiveness of such a method crucially depends upon
the capability of measuring similarity, such as in texture and pixel color information.

42
Cost Sheet-
 Sensor (video-camera)- Rs 15000
 Image processing Module- Rs 18000
 Controller(Raspberry Pi 3) – Rs 3500
Total- 36500

Benefit-
 Safe Driving
 Avoid Accident

4.3 OVERTAKING

 Overtaking is changing lanes to move past a slower vehicle.

 Never overtake other vehicle unless you are absolutely sure you can do so without
danger to yourself or others.
 Points to consider while overtaking a vehicle:
 Use your right-turn indicator to show that you want to overtake. Check the way ahead
and behind is clear before overtaking.

 Watch out for scooters or motor cycles that may be hidden from view in front of the
vehicle you are about to overtake. Watch for vehicles that may be turning right in front
of you.
 After overtaking, give indicator that you want to get back into the lane you started from.
Change lane when you can see all the front of the vehicle you are passing in your rear
view mirror. Never cut off a vehicle by suddenly moving in front of it.
 Do not race if the vehicle you are passing speeds up. Get back into your original lane.

43
 Fig 4.6

Do not overtake within 30 metres of a pedestrian crossing. When another vehicle wants to
overtake you, move to the left and let it pass. Be prepared to slow down to allow the overtaking
vehicle get into your lane ahead of you. The other driver may not have anticipated the speed of
the oncoming vehicle.

Fig 4.7

4.4 OVERTAKING AT NIGHT

44
Be very careful when you overtake other vehicles at night.

1. Switch your headlights to low beams as you approach a vehicle from behind.
2. Switch your high beams on and off quickly to warn the driver ahead that you are going to
overtake.

Fig 4.8

3. Check your mirrors and blind spot, and pull out to overtake. As you move besides the
vehicle you are overtaking, switch on your high beams so that you can see more of the road
ahead. of the vehicle you are about to overtake. Watch for vehicles that may be turning
right in front of you.
4. When you can see all of the front of the vehicle you are overtaking in your rear view mirror,
pull back into the left lane. Give indicator so the other driver knows you are getting back
into the lane.

4.5 ETC MECHANISM

What is ETC System?

The Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System is a new toll system designed to enhance
convenience for drivers by enabling cashless toll collection and thus Reducing congestion at
High-way tollgates.

45
 Fig 4.9

Objectives-
 Avoid the fuel loss.
 Saving of time in collecting toll.
 Avoid financial loss.
 Reduce longer waiting time in a toll queue
 Provide traveler ease of toll payment
 Reduce illegal toll gate entry

Problems in bar Code

 Transmission of data is performed optically- hence, clear line of sight is
required
 Information storage is limited (upto 1 Mb)
 Read only one tag at a time
 Read capability can be affected by dirt, water and scuffing
 Reduced security

RFID Need-
Communicates through radio waves, line of sight not required
RFID tags store significantly more information (up to 2 Mb)
RFID is dynamic and information can be added or deleted at every step in the supply
chain
Increased functionality: covert and difficult to counterfeit

46
Read multiple tags at once

RFID mechanism-
RFID is a technology to identify and authenticate tags that are us attached on vehicles.
Each user holds a unique id for his vehicle, when user scans his
ID, some amount is charged from his account depending upon his
vehicle category. This system depends on three devices
Tag: Transponder
RF Reader: Antenna
In-Lane Computer

RFID Tags
An RFID tag, or transponder, consists of a chip and an antenna.
The microchip contains memory and logic circuits to receive and send data back to the reader.
Each tag contains an identification number, data identifying the issuing agency, tag type, a
description of the •vehicle, and other agency-specific data.
The RFID Tag is mounted on windshield of vehicle.

Reader-
A reader contains an antenna to transmit and receive data from the tag.
• The reader also contains a decoder and an RF module. It could be mounted or built as a
portable handheld device

In Line Computer-
The In Lane Computer checks the data against a database of valid tags and active accounts,
deducts the appropriate toll from the customer’s account, and approves passage or raises a
tollgate to allow the vehicle to pass through the toll plaza

Working
As a vehicle approaches a toll plaza, the radiofrequency (RF) field emitted from the antenna
activates the transponder.
• The transponder broadcasts a signal back to the lane antenna with some
basic information. That information is transferred from the lane antenna to
the central database

47
 Fig 4.10

If the account is in good standing, a toll is deducted from the driver's prepaid account.
If the toll lane has a gate, the gate opens.
A green light indicates that the driver can proceed

Advantages-
Entire process takes a matter of seconds to complete.
Electronic system records transaction, including the time, date, plaza and toll charge
of each vehicle. Safe Transaction (Less chances of Corruption)
Cost Sheet-
 Tag: Transponder- Rs 25400
 RF Reader: Antenna Rs 26000
 In-Lane Computer- Rs 55000
Total- 1,06, 400

4.6 SPEED LIMIT CONTROL

This paper presents a device to detect rash driving on highways and to alert the traffic
authorities in case of any violation. In past, lot of devices to detect rash driving on highways has

48
been made. Most of the approaches require human concentration and involve a lot of effort,
which is difficult to implement. In this paper we intend to design a system aimed at early
detection and alert of dangerous vehicle driving patterns related to rash driving. The entire
implementation requires an IR transmitter, an IR receiver, a control circuit and a buzzer. The
speed limit is set by the police who use the system depending upon the traffic at the very
location. The time taken by the vehicle to travel from one set point to the other is calculated by
control circuit and displays that on seven segment displays. Moreover, if the vehicle crosses the
speed limit, a buzzer sounds alerting the police.

Block diagram of Vehicle speed detector using Timer (Fig 4.11)

A photodiode used as sensor is a type of photo detector capable of converting light into either
current or voltage, depending upon the mode of operation. Photodiodes are similar to regular
semiconductor diodes except that they may be either exposed (to detect vacuum UV or X-rays)
or packaged with a window or optical fibre connection to allow light to reach the sensitive part
of the device.

49
 Many diodes designed for use specifically as a photodiode will also use a PIN junction rather
than the typical PN junction. When a photon of sufficient energy strikes the diode, it excites an
electron, thereby creating a mobile electron and a positively charged electron hole. If the
absorption occurs in the junction's depletion region, or one diffusion length away from it, these
carriers are swept from the junction by the built in field of the depletion region. Thus holes
move toward the anode, and electrons toward the cathode, and a photocurrent is produced
which goes to the Timer. In this case, we use 555 Timer IC which is an integrated circuit (chip)
implementing a variety of timer and multi-vibrator applications. The 555 has three operating
modes: Constable Mode: in this mode, the 555 functions as a "one-shot".

Applications include timers, missing pulse detection, bounce free switches, touch switches,
frequency divider, capacitance measurement, pulse-width modulation (PWM) etc. Actable -
free running mode: the 555 can operate as an oscillator. Uses include LED and lamp flashers,
pulse generation, logic clocks, tone generation, security alarms, pulse position modulation, etc.
Bitable mode or Schmitt trigger: the 555 can operate as a flip-flop, if the DIS pin is not
connected and no capacitor is used. Uses include bounce free latched switches, etc.

The circuit uses standard power supply comprising of a step-down transformer from 230v to
12v and four diodes forming a bridge rectifier that delivers pulsating dc which is then filtered by
an electrolytic capacitor of 1000μf. The filtered dc being unregulated IC LM7812 is used to get
12v constant output at its pin no 3 irrespective of input dc varying from 9v to 14v. The input dc
shall be varying in the event of input ac at 230volts section varies in the ratio of v1/v2=n1/n2.
The regulated 12volts dc is further filtered by a small electrolytic capacitor of 0.1 if for any noise
so generated by the circuit.

This is used as the supply for different ICs in the circuit. A buzzer or beeper is an audio signaling
device, which may be driven by an oscillating electronic circuit or other audio signal source,
driven with a piezoelectric audio amplifier. Sounds commonly used to indicate that a button has
been pressed are a click, a ring or a beep. Here, piezo-buzzer sounds an alarm if the vehicle
crosses the distance between the IR Diode set-ups at more than the selected speed. Fig. 3
shows the theory of buzzer so as to emit the sound. Simultaneously, the time taken by the
vehicle to cross both the IR Diode beams is displayed on the 7-segment display.

50
4.7 Vehicle Control
Vehicle control is probably the most important part of the advanced AHS applications.
Implementation of AHS necessitates automatically controlled vehicles as mentioned previously.
Achieving the optimal solution to congestion and safety problems requires extensive research in
system modeling, lateral (steering) controls and longitudinal (speed and headway) controls. In a
fully automated highway system, these control systems will rely on vehicle-to-vehicle
communication, as information on velocity and acceleration of other vehicles will be utilized in
individual vehicle controllers [Varaiya93].

The same information and much more (e.g., desired speed and lane) may also be received via
vehicle-to-roadside communications. Here, we will briefly discuss the previous research on
lateral, longitudinal and combined lateral and longitudinal control of vehicles.

Vehicle control for Automated Highway System (Fig 4.12)

51
4.7.1 Lateral Control

Hess burg and Tomizuka designed a fuzzy rule-based controller for lateral guidance of a vehicle.
This system is based on human-type reasoning. Advantages of such a controller include
flexibility in the choices of input/outputs, and on-line/off-line training capability. Their focus
was achieving good tracking for a variety of roadway curves over a range of longitudinal vehicle
speeds. Simulations to demonstrate its performance under parameter variations and external
disturbances gave satisfactory results.

An alternative approach is presented in [Lubin92]. It concentrates the intelligence in the

vehicle, using the visual sensing approach described in [Kornhauser91]. In this model, no
infrastructure modification is needed, but considerable cost and complexity is added to each
individual vehicle. With the current rate of technology improvement, this system may become
feasible for production purposes. During the last five years, the research on lateral vehicle
control and lane changing maneuvers was extensive. For a (non comprehensive) list of
publications on the subject, see [PathDb96].

Besides the theoretical modeling and simulations for lateral control of vehicles, there are a few
important experimental accomplishments: the use of magnetic markers, and the use of visual
information for lateral position handling. The first method was designed by the PATH Program
[PATH96] and employs magnetic markers imbedded into the road to detect the lateral
displacement from the center of the lane [Tan96]. Current tests with a vehicle equipped with
magnetic sensors on its front bumper are reported to be successful [Lee95].

The second application for lateral control uses visual data and on-board computing resources to
obtain the steering command, and is designed by another NASHC participant. In order to locate
the road ahead, the “rapidly adapting lateral position handler” (RALPH) uses a template-based
matching technique to find parallel image features such as lane markings or tire and oil
markings. During the experiment called “No Hands Across America,”

The test bed vehicle equipped with the RALPH system drove 98% of the 2850 mile journey
autonomously. An average speed of 63mph in conditions that included bright sunlight, dusk,
rain and nighttime, and a maximum stretch of 69miles autonomous driving are reported
[Pomerlau96]. A third application for lateral control consists of a vision-based system with a
neural network learning from a driver. Performance levels comparable to the human driver are
reported in [Moon96]. Özgüner et al. reported successful results for lane following using a
vision sensor [Özgüner96].

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4.7.2 Longitudinal Control

Longitudinal control is an important aspect of the future AHS. One of the major concepts in this
area is platooning, which is a formation of traveling vehicles that maintain close spacing at
highway speeds. The concept requires inter-vehicle communication links to provide velocity
and possibly acceleration information from the lead vehicle to each of the following vehicles, as
well as the velocity and acceleration of the preceding vehicle in the platoon. Sheikholeslam and
Desoer [Sheikholeslam89] showed that inter-vehicle communications increases the stability of
the platoon formation in the case of identical vehicle platoons.

In the case of a platoon of non-identical vehicles, the situation is more complex. Frank, Liu, and
Liang [Frank89] explicitly considered the case of non-identical vehicles. The control scheme
presented combines three nested control loops for speed regulation, spacing control, and
speed synchronization. They also concluded that (a) the platoon size must be limited to
approximately 15 vehicles, (b) nonlinearities significantly affect the response characteristic of
the platoon, and (c) emergency situations need further investigation before proper sensor
specifications can be set.
It has also been shown that communicating the lead vehicle’s information to other vehicles is
not a requirement if we can tolerate degradation in the performance. This degradation is said to
be not catastrophic [Sheikholeslam91].

Recent research on longitudinal control includes vehicle follower control design for heavyduty
vehicles [Yanakiev96], adaptive control of a nonlinear platoon model [Spooner96], automatic
braking systems and their effects on capacity [Hedrick96], advanced control techniques
[Kachroo95b], and adaptive traction control [Lee96]. Again, A relatively comprehensive list of
publications on longitudinal vehicle control can be found at [PathDb96].
Experimental results of longitudinal vehicle control include a platoon of four vehicles traveling
at 55mph with a headway distances under 50 cm [Hedrick96]. Again, lead vehicle’s information
is transmitted to following vehicles in order to achieve string stability.

4.7.3 Combined Lateral and Longitudinal Control

Although much of the research to date has focused primarily on either lateral or longitudinal
control, an overall automated driving system combining both lateral and longitudinal control is
vital for future automated highway systems.

53
System models which incorporate longitudinal and lateral dynamics are very rare. Kachroo and
Tomizuka [Kachroo95c] studied combined longitudinal and lateral control to investigate the
resulting behavior of the coupled system. It is shown that longitudinal controllers that directly
control the wheel slip are inherently more stable, especially during lateral maneuvers on very
slippery road conditions. Spooner and Passino [Spooner95] also developed sliding mode
controllers for longitudinal and lateral control. Their fault tolerant algorithms were found to be
stable for a variety of faults such as braking, powertrain, and steering systems. Yu and Sideris
[Yu95] considered combined control using partial state-measurements of longitudinal and
lateral deviations, longitudinal velocity and yaw rate. The research on combined control of
vehicles is moving toward more realistic systems. New control approaches for more platoon
operations in more complex situations such as entry and exit maneuvers are being studied
[Yang96].

The PATH program investigates the use of machine vision for guiding lane change maneuvers
[Malik95]. The vision system is modularly interfaced with the existing magnetic sensor system
for lateral position measurements, and with active range sensors. Özgüner [Özgüner95] also
described a vehicle-roadway system in which the control of vehicle movement is based on
instrumentation located both in the vehicle and the roadway. A radar based system is used for
both cruise control, and for providing position information in lateral maneuvers.

Fig 4.13

Combined lateral and longitudinal control experiments are yet to be designed and
implemented; the 1997 AHS Demonstration will be a good occasion for combined control tests.

54
4.8 Hierarchical Control Structure

Varaiya introduced a structure for designing ITS functions and their relation to driver decisions
[Varaiya93]. The focus of AHS applications is mainly on the in-trip phase of the ITS activities. An
automated vehicle has to (a) choose its route to reduce travel time, (b) plan its path to ensure a
smooth traffic flow, (c) maneuver in coordination with other vehicles, and (d) regulate the
proper spacing and steering to increase traffic flow in a safe manner.

An automated highway that leaves the driver in the control of the vehicle can only achieve a
capacity of 15% above the maximum value of 40 vehicle/lane/min. Driver behavior is the
capacity ‘bottleneck’ in such a system. Furthermore, 90% of highway accidents are results of
incorrect driver decisions [Varaiya93]. Therefore, an automated system might increase both the
capacity and the safety.

In order to increase the capacity of the existing highways, the California PATH program suggests
organizing the traffic in platoons. A platoon size of 15 with intra-platoon spacing of 2m, inter-
platoon spacing of 60m, and a steady-state speed of 72km/h will increase the capacity to
105 vehicle/lane/min, which is much larger than maximum empirically observed values.
Decreasing the distance between vehicles to 0.20m will change this number to 130
vehicles/lane/min, although it may not be feasible for a heterogeneous platoon of vehicles. For
intra-platoon distances discussed here, it is impossible for a driver, who has a reaction delay of
0.25-1.20 sec, to guarantee adequate safety.

According to Varaiya, the tasks for an automated vehicle-highway system to accomplish can be
achieved by a four-layer hierarchical control architecture [Varaiya93]. The layers of the
architecture, from the top, are network, link, planning, and regulation. The network layer
assigns a route to each vehicle as it enters the system. The link layer assigns each vehicle a path
which balances traffic for all lanes, and assigns a target speed for each section of highway. This
layer may also assign platoon size. The planning layer creates a plan which approximates the
desired path. The regulation layer controls the vehicle trajectory so that it conforms to this plan.
Below the regulation layer, a physical layer that provides sensor data and responds to actuator
signals, is assumed.

Different choices of partition of control authority between the infrastructure and the vehicle
are compatible with this architecture. The regulation and planning layer controllers are onboard
vehicles, the link and network layers are on the roadside. It is important to find a design that
combines the advantages of a fully centralized control system and an architecture based on
autonomous vehicles and local sensor information.

55
In this thesis, we introduce an intelligent controller which can be seen as the planning layer of
an autonomous vehicle. The planning layer, as defined in [Varaiya93], has three tasks:

 Decision on maneuvers to attempt in order to realize the assigned path,

 Coordination of maneuvers with the planning layers of neighboring vehicles,
 Supervising the regulation layer in the execution of a trajectory corresponding to the
chosen maneuver.

In our application, where the scenario includes non-automated vehicles and minimal
communications, the coordination of maneuvers between planning layers does not exist. The
communication between planning and regulation layers is fairly simple: the planning layer
sends a command, and the regulation layer returns a reply once it successfully completes the
command.

A richer interface may be required: the planning layer could pass multiple parameters to the
regulation layer, which could then return parameters indicating the ‘success’ or ‘errors’ and
‘exceptions.’ The theory of control of such a system is not yet developed. There is a need for
research as to how the regulation layer should switch from one control law to another. Lasky
and Revani state that this represents an open research issue whose solution maybe vital to the
implementation of a full AHS [Lasky93].

The approach above is one of the many different approaches to AHS. Some of these concepts
are based on cooperative architectures [McKendree96], maximum adaptability [Schuster96],
autonomous vehicle architectures [Bayouth96], and infrastructure assistance [Godbole96b].

4.9 Other AHS Issues

Besides the automatic vehicle control, there are several important issues that need to be
carefully considered for a successful implementation of an automated highway system. During
the first few years of the AHS research efforts, the problems related to the issues given here
were not investigated as much as vehicle control problems. However, as the AHS related
research progressed, it expanded to the areas of sensing and communications, fault tolerance,
and human factors. In this section, we will emphasize related research efforts on these areas.

56
4.9.1 Sensors and Communication

The realization of full AHS needs hardware both in infrastructure and the vehicle. Roadside
monitors will measure traffic flow and speed, and vehicle paths will be calculated based on this
information. Such measurements are currently made with loop detectors, ultrasonic sensors,
AVI tags or vision systems. Information may be communicated by infrared beacons, broadcast
and cellular radio, or using emerging ultra wideband technologies [James96]. The vehicles need
a longitudinal sensor to measure distance and relative speed of the preceding vehicle. Such
sensors may be based on radar, ultrasound, or vision [Özgüner95, Hedrick96, Pomerlau96].
Microwave radar sensors perform very well in fog and heavy rain, but they are very expensive.
Laser radar systems are low-cost, but cannot handle low visibility conditions [Yanagisawa92].

To facilitate lane changes at a range of relative speeds, the vehicle must be equipped with
sensors that locate vehicles on the side with a longitudinal range of about 30m. Infrared and
laser range finding techniques may prove to be useful in this area.

Besides headway and side sensor information, longitudinal and lateral velocity and
acceleration, yaw rate, front steering angle, and lateral deviation data is needed to obtain a
robust combined lateral and longitudinal control. All of these except the last one can be
obtained using on-board accelerometers and encoders. For vehicle position sensing, there are
two alternatives: magnetic markers [Lee95], and vision systems [Pomerlau96].

Recent research done on vision systems showed significant promise, however these systems
are more expensive than magnetic markers which, in turn, require infrastructure deployment as
well as on-board sensors.

Fig 4.14

57
A sequence of single magnetic markers can also form a “word” that transfers information such
as curvature, and number of lanes. However, this magnetic marker data contains only the static
information (roadway characteristics), not dynamic information (such as information on other
vehicles incidents), unlike the vision system.

Roadside-vehicle communications is also a critical aspect of AHS. Vehicles need to be identified,

speed must be communicated to vehicles, and actions need to be coordinated for a fully
automated system. In addition, there is a need for vehicle-to-vehicle communications because
of the designed longitudinal control methods and coordination issues. Precise control can be
obtained using full duplex communication. Networking represents a higher level of
communications, in which traffic and hazard information detected by one group of vehicles can
be communicated to other vehicles.

There are a variety of methods for roadside-vehicle communications; most of them are
discussed in [Field92]. Recent research on communications includes interference studies for
vehicle transceivers [Gavan96], design of communication protocols [Godbole96], WaveLAN
radio [Chen96], and network architectures and protocols for vehicle-to-vehicle communications
[Bolla96, Fuji96].

4.9.2 Safety and Fault Tolerance

Although the solutions to most of the technical problems in vehicle control, traffic
management, information systems, and communications have been found, the envisioned AHS
will never be deployed unless the safety of the overall system can be verified. One issue which
is often overlooked by researchers is the possibility of undesirable interaction of the systems.
An example in [Safety92] mentions two devices which try to maintain vehicles at constant
lateral spacing using side range sensing. If the devices (and the vehicles) have different
dynamics, it is possible that one or both vehicles may become unstable, possibly resulting in a
collision.

Furakawa [Furakawa92] approaches the automobile safety question from an interesting

perspective: the instinctive ability of humans (and animals) to sense and avoid dangers, an
ability which is impaired when driving a car. Furakawa notes that building this instinctive
function into automobiles as a form of intelligent control technology is a good approach to
improve safety.

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Current research on safety and fault tolerance includes lane crossing studies [Lin96], sensor
validation [Agogino96,Singer95], fault tolerant design for AHS [Lygeros96], emergency
maneuvers for automated vehicles [Shiller95], and design constraints on intelligent vehicle
controllers [Puri95].

4.9.3 Human Factors

In an advanced system such as AHS, the driver will be confronted with significantly more
information, and possibly more controls, than are currently used in vehicles. In a system that
uses complete automation during some segments of a trip, the safe transition from automated
driving to manual driving is a difficult issue. Also, there exist several advanced vehicle control
systems (AVCS) related problems such as the acceptance of a system which takes the control
away from drivers, privacy issues related to AVI and AVL systems, and “platooning
claustrophobia.” For users to accept the AHS, a successful AVC system must address important
issues such as dealing with false alarms and system failures to gain acceptance and public
confidence, displays and warnings with the right amount and content of information, and
driver skills and attentiveness for smooth automated-manual switching [Chira92].

Human factors assessment of the drivers interfaces of existing collision avoidance systems is
currently under investigation [Mazzae96]. On the other hand, although AHS deployment has
not started yet, simulator tests are conducted to see how drivers behave when they are in the
lead vehicle in a string of vehicles and another vehicle enters the automated lane ahead of
them [Bloomfield96]. Also, the effect of different AHS automation degrees (manual, semi-
automated, fully automated) on driver behaviors while entering the automated lane are tested
using a driving simulator [Bloomfield96b]. Levitan presented a comprehensive report on human
factors considerations related to the design of AHS. The report is intended as a guideline for
effective, efficient, safe and user-acceptable AHS design [Levitan96].

4.10 An Experimentation and Evaluation Framework for AHS

According to Center for Transportation Research’s approach, the progression in AHS

development from conceptualization to implementation has four steps, [Kachroo95]. The
intelligent controller described in this work is part of the four-block structure visualized at the
center. As seen in Figure 2.1, the first block is computer software simulation (see Section 2.6 for
a detailed description) that is preceded by mathematical modeling. The second block consists of

59
conducting small scale experiments in the Flexible Low-cost Automated Scaled Highway (FLASH)
Laboratory. Then, hardware tests comprising the third block are performed on a test site with
actual vehicles. The “Smart Road” being built near Blacksburg, Virginia will be a suitable test
bed for conducting such experiments using actual vehicles and controlled traffic conditions. The
fourth block is the deployment of AHS on conventional highways.

These four blocks can be considered as the building blocks of a comprehensive testing and
evaluation methodology for AHS. The input can be a hypothesis, a model, or technologies. The
evaluation and testing procedure defined by this methodology is not seen as a single
feedthrough four-step process, but as having some feedback and feedforward loops depending
on the results obtained at each block.

These loops represent the changes made to the hypothesis, model or the technological
concept. Hardware tests are important since they provide the means to validate computer
results or to modify them in the case of discrepancies, due to unmodeled or inadequately
modeled dynamics. Without hardware testing, it would be foolhardy to jump into actual
implementation. For instance, the FLASH Laboratory could be used to improve the computer
simulation via scale model tests before starting the tests with full scale vehicles.

4.10.1. FLASH Laboratory

The Flexible Low-cost Automated Scaled Highway (FLASH) Laboratory is visualized a precursor
to a full-scale highway [Kachroo95]. It will provide a platform for experimental work as well as
an arena for demonstration of AHS systems. In order to test highway situations with complex
realistic scenarios of merging, splitting, exit, and entrance, small scale vehicles (1:10 to 1:15
scale) are designed in a modular fashion. Modularity will guarantee inexpensive and fast
incorporation of different system configurations. The FLASH laboratory will be composed of
tens of small vehicles (of different sizes) with a flexible highway system and communication
network. The FLASH laboratory concept makes the construction of specifically designed scaled
highway configurations possible in a short period of time, and at much less cost than it would
be required for the construction of a similar full scale test bed.

The use of small low-cost vehicles with known mathematical models would be beneficial for
researchers seeking to verify their computer simulations quickly and economically. The use of
standard vehicles eliminates some of the uncertainty due to particular vehicle models that
make comparisons of different AHS approaches difficult. The laboratory will provide researchers

60
with the vehicle as well as its verified mathematical model. This capability will enhance the
results from computer simulations.

The FLASH laboratory has significance not only to all the phases of AHS development programs,
but also to the improvement and maintenance of the actual automated highways. The
laboratory will be extremely useful in the analysis phase of the AHS development. The
laboratory and its vehicles may serve as a benchmark through which various configurations,
architectures, and technologies can be compared. Evaluation of alternative AHS system
concepts, selection of a system approach based on analysis, test and evaluation, and
demonstration of prototype configurations on a smaller and cheaper scale are the foci of the
laboratory. Furthermore, the laboratory can be used to obtain preliminary data for the
operation evaluation (third) phase of the AHS program, and be a test bed for several issues
which cannot be tested on selected locations because of considerations of insurance and safety.

Currently, the laboratory is equipped with multiple small scale vehicles with different types of
tires and shock mechanisms. The vehicles have infrared and magnetic sensors, and wireless
video camera for lateral displacement measurements, ultrasonic sensors for headway sensing,
encoders for speed measurements. Sensing and control is provided by GCB-11 microcontroller.
Wireless radio modems provide full duplex serial communications

Remote control station includes IBM PC computers equipped with frame grabber DSP board, a
micro-kernel operating system, and a data acquisition board for lateral feedback control via
image processing, as well as a steering wheel, control pedal and monitor for manual control.
Single- and double-lane small scale modular tracks with inclines and multiple radius left and
right turns are designed using EPDM rubber membrane (Figure 4.15).

61
 Test tracks and the control station in the FLASH Laboratory. (Fig 4.15)

The laboratory also has an experimental testing platform designed for traction control and
vehicle plant modeling tests [Kachroo96, Schlegel96].

4.10.2. Smart Road

When completed, the ‘Smart Road’ will be a 6-mile roadway between Blacksburg and I-81
interstate highway in southwest Virginia, linking the Roanoke and New River Valleys. The first 2
miles is designated as a controlled test facility (Figure 4.16). It will be the first of its kind to be
built from the ground up with an ITS infrastructure incorporated into the roadway. This full
scale test bed will provide controlled testing of a variety of ITS technologies and concepts with
varied terrain and environmental conditions. Research involving crash avoidance, driver
behavior, vehicle dynamics, sensors, and automated vehicle control will take place under a
broad range of carefully controlled testing conditions.

For the roadway, an advanced communication system consisting of a local area, wireless
network interfaced with a complete fiber optic backbone is planned. Thus, the road is designed
to have the capability to service a multitude of sensors and messaging equipment concurrently.
The test bed design also incorporates the ability to simulate a diverse range of weather
conditions, from mild to severe (fog, rain, and snow). In addition, the all-weather testing area

62
will overlap the variable lighting area to provide simulation capabilities for night driving
conditions.

Location of the Smart Road (Fig 4.16)

To facilitate continuous testing, the road will be equipped with turnarounds at both ends.
Overhead structures are designed to accommodate variable signing as well as overhead
sensors. Two safety zones with 50-foot clearance areas and additional crash protection features
for prototype testing of advanced in-vehicle systems are also planned.

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4.11 A Simulation Tool for AHS Systems: DYNAVIMTS

During the last few years, many computer programs for microscopic and macroscopic level
simulations of vehicles in an automated system have surfaced. Paramics (Parallel Microscopic
Simulation) is currently used to find the reasons for large-scale congestions in the Controlled
Motorway pilot project on the M25 highway in England, by dividing the network into a number
of regions. DYNAVIS is another dynamic visualization package specifically designed for
evaluating automatic control of vehicles.

This package is part of a bigger effort by the California PATH program, Smart Path. Smart Path is
a simulation package for an automated highway system, designed to provide a framework for
simulation and evaluation of AHS alternatives. It is again a micro-simulator, i.e., the functional
elements and the behavior of each vehicle are individually modeled. Smart Path has two
separate simulation and animation modules.

4.11.1. Software System Architecture

DYNAVIMTS is multi-purpose AHS simulation software currently developed using different

software tools and platforms [Kachroo96b]. It has a distributed system architecture enabling
the user to distribute several time consuming functions of DYNAVIMTS to separate computers.

The output of the simulation is transferred to a Pentium PC which has animation software
developed using OpenGL. DYNAVIMTS consists of three main modules: the Communicator, the
Simulator, and the Animator.

4.11.2. Components of DYNAVIMTS

As mentioned above, there are three main modules in the DYNAVIMTS software package
(Figure 4.17). The front-end graphical user interface (Communicator, Figure 4.18) is developed
in C using OSF/Motif and Xt Intrinsic libraries on a Sun  Sparc. The structure of the interface and
the underlying modules again has been modeled based on the four-layer structure of the
California PATH Program. The sub module for the network layer design calls ARC/INFO’s Arc Edit
[Arc96] utilities to construct the network.

The GUI also consists of routines to invoke incident management software, traffic assessment
algorithms, and other related programs to form the central part of an integrated ITS simulation
package. The microscopic level simulator is a C++ program using CSIM libraries. There are three

64
basic classes - vehicle, link and sensor. These objects interact among themselves and with the
CSIM objects, through their member functions. The animation module is started after a run is
executed by the simulator. The Animator consists of two components: graphical plots and
animation. The graphical plots generated by Mat lab give the detailed information about the
control parameters and sensor data. The animation sub module is developed in C using OpenGL
libraries on a NT workstation. The simulation data is currently transferred via a pre-formatted
ASCII data file. This module also contains the graphical data for the planned Smart Road project.
A detailed description of the package, its file structure and graphic user interface is given in
[Nagarajan96].

Components of DYNAVIMTS simulation package. (Fig 4.17)

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The control structure is incorporated in the DYNAVIMTS simulation package as part of the
planning layer simulator. Since the link layer development in DYNAVIMTS is not complete, the
planning layer simulator on Mat lab assumes that the link layer data is available (if at all
necessary), and the resulting data is transferred to the animator sub module in the form of an
ASCII file. At the end of each simulation run, the user is also able to use the GUI to plot different
parameters and values using Mat lab. The connection between the planning and regulation
layers does not yet exist as is the case in similar simulation packages. A snapshot of the
planning layer GUI is given in Appendix C.

Opening screen of DYNAVIMTS [Nagarajan96]. (Fig 4.18)

66
SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES FOR AUTOMATED
HIGHWAY SYSTEMS

The introduction of new technologies often creates social tensions. For instance,
although talking on the phone while walking. or driving is commonplace nowadays,
there are concerns about its safety, and debates continue over whether it is rude to
use a cell phone in public places such as restaurants or on a bus. Similarly, mature
technologies experienced social challenges when they were introduced. The first
automobiles were seen as rich people’s toys, and former President Woodrow Wilson,
then head of Princeton College, warned students about showing off their vehicles
before the townsfolk, who he presumed would never have cars.

The programs to achieve the transportation improvement through new technologies

likewise face social and institutional challenges. For automated highway systems the
challenges include concerns about land use and environmental impacts, effects on
people’s mobility if they are unable to afford or use the new technologies, effects on
local government-owned transportation systems, and impacts on financing systems.
These impacts will be discussed here.

.
5.1 Unclear Social and Environmental Impacts

One of the critical problems for the automated highway system development is
that the impact of AHS on society and environment is unclear yet. Studies
necessarily must be speculative since the system has not yet been implemented
apart from the San Diego demonstration project. The following topics are ones that
have generated considerable disagreement.

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5.1.1 Congestion at Entry and Exit

There is concern that if AHS are implemented the greater numbers of vehicles on
an automated highway could create bottlenecks at its entry and exit points as more
traffic reenters non-automated streets. This might offset most of the benefits of the
traffic flow improvement on the automated highways. The U.S. DOT acknowledged
that it was a serious concern to design an interchange that can integrate with
surrounding non-AHS roads to ease the problem.

5.1.2 Unclear Impact on Land Use and Environment

There are concerns that commuters might live farther from the work place,
because an automated highway system promises to increase the accessibility of
more distant locations through higher freeway speeds. Therefore, it possibly
encourages urban sprawl and greater dependence on the automobile. The concern
about land use pattern and urban development raises also the serious question on
the AHS’s positive role regarding air quality, noise, etc. If more vehicles were
accommodated at faster speeds on a fully automated highway, vehicle emissions
might increase and degrade air quality, as AHS might encourage more Vehicle Mile
Traveled (VMT). This conflicting result may provoke the fundamental question of
whether or not automated highway system is much more efficient, comparing to
traditional highway or other transportation modes such as light rail and high-speed
rail.

Safety

Some argue that it is uncertain how Automated Highway Systems impact on overall
highway safety, because the failure of a vehicle’s braking or steering system could
severely disrupt the highway traffic flow and cause a chain reaction accident. In

68
 addition, there are remaining questions: What level of safety is attainable and
sustainable within a realistic cost? How much safety equipment can be required
and still achieve public acceptance? How efficient can the system be if safety
requirements are set at extremely high levels? The trade-offs between the
technology level, cost, and the safety level have not been addressed yet.

Equity

Since tremendous amounts of public funds could be spent to deploy an automated

highway system, social equity issues must be addressed. A key question is whether
it would be fair and politically feasible to dedicate travel lanes to automated
vehicles, and spend public funds, if many low-income motorists cannot afford
automated vehicles.

Studies have not addressed specific issues of whether and how state and federal
government might provide incentives to commercialize automated vehicles, how
the system should be financed (e.g. toll system/ other sources), and how equity
concerns could be reduced. There also may be different equity issues involved with
different vehicle users.

5.2 The Dilemma of Transition From Conventional Highway to Automated

Highway

There has been a debate between those who favor an evolutionary deployment of
automated high systems and those who promote full-scale conversion of regional
highways to the system.

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 Some researchers involved in the National Automated Highway System Research
Program believed that a regional conversion strategy would be a more effective
way to implement a fully automated system. The argument is that the evolutionary
approach would be neither easy nor efficient since many drivers will not invest in
such basic technologies as adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping technologies. It
was recommended that at least one lane of a regional highway should be
converted to an AHS-equipped corridor so that initial users can fully benefit from
the system. In addition, to demonstrate the benefits, government vehicles and
transit vehicles would be converted first to automated vehicles.

Others argued for gradual implementation, believing that there would be

inadequate justification to convert or build highway lanes with full automation with
public funds if only a few vehicles, mostly owned by the affluent, would be able to
use the system in its initial years. This side also argued that even the vehicle owners
who can pay for automation technologies may not be willing to equip their cars
with this technology, if only one or a few corridors have highway lanes equipped
for AHS use. Thus, the suggestion was that, as an evolutionary approach, focus
should be placed on market penetration of near-term advanced vehicle control and
safety technologies.

After the U.S. DOT’s decision was made to withdraw from the National Automated
Highway System Research Program, AHS research has mostly followed the
evolutionary model. Today, many efforts are being made to develop and
commercialize the basic AHS-related technologies such as adaptive cruise control
and collision-warning features.

5.3 Public Acceptance

For AHS to obtain public acceptance, it must be designed and implemented with
many complex human factors and operational reliability considerations. The

70
 decision on which vehicle controls are automated and how these systems interface
with the driver will affect seriously system safety and the level of public
acceptance. In addition, the extent to which motorists would accept reduced
manual control of their vehicles of be willing to travel in automated vehicles at
close following distances, on narrower lanes, and at higher speeds is not clear yet.
Full automation of the nation’s road cannot be attained in a day, until a careful
review as to human response and system safety, and market analysis on potential
users can be successfully addressed. User fears, inertia, and distrust on new
technology are typically too strong to be eliminated without gradual and systematic
implementation strategies.

5.4 Institutional Issues

The vision of deployment of local and regional automated highways requires the
public sector to consider the issue of institutionalization of automated highway
systems. Successful institutionalization would reduce potential political and
economic conflicts and would specify the roles and responsibilities of each public
and private actor. Key institutional issues include finance, regulation, and
organization.

5.4.1 Finance: Who Will Pay for AHS?

U.S. DOT’s 1996 report identified several issues concerning the finance of
automated highways, but these issues have not been discussed actively since the
U.S. DOT withdrew its financial support for the long-term research on AHS. Yet, it is
worth summarizing the significant issues in the following:

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  The main ways to cover automated highway system costs and the cost
structuring.
 The priority to be given to investment in normal highways v/s. automated
highways.
 The rights and privileges that the operating entity can have.

A principal dilemma is that, given limited financial resources and a backlog of

needed investments in conventional traditional transportation projects, AHS
deployment is likely to be limited for the next decade or more, unless alternative
funding sources are found.

In many urban areas, maintenance alone absorbs the majority of available funds,
and transportation agencies are left with little funding to use on new projects of
any sort.

This suggests that either new funding source would need to be found or else the
benefits of AHS would have to be so convincing that transportation officials would
put AHS projects ahead of other desired transportation investments.

5.4.2 Organizational Issues

Many operational issues can arise in considering the role of state and local
government in building and operating highways. The AHS will include technically
complex components such as advanced electronic sensors, on-line computers and
software, and communication systems. Installation and maintenance of these
systems may present a significant challenge to the operators. Since AHS will

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 introduce an increased level of complexity for highway operations, the following
issues should be addressed:

 The ability of state and local transportation agencies to build, operate and
maintain the sophisticated networks of automated highway; changes that
might be needed in personnel hiring practices, pay scales, etc.
 The capability of state and local jurisdictions to work together effectively in
planning and operating AHS

 The regional institutional integration to support the efficient operation of

AHS
 The training of technical staff to deal with the system
 The structure of ownership of facility (public or private)
 Responsibility for standard-setting for new equipment and operations.

5.4.3 Liability issues

Presently, the primary burden of the cost of vehicle accidents rests with the drivers
and the owners of the vehicles, because most of highway collisions are due to
driver error. However, the increased automation resulting from the adoption of
certain automated highway technologies could shift liability to the developers and
operators of automated systems. Thus a major issue concerns the resolution of
who is to be responsible for accidents on automated highway systems: the non-
driving driver, the auto-highway authority, or the auto manufacturer.

5.5 AHS Benefits

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A prime goal of the NAHSC is that AHS be viewed as a desirable option for vehicle-highway
system enhancement by all stakeholders; users, communities, state and regional transportation
agencies, environmental organizations, and industry, Who have a stake in the design and
implementation of an AHS. "The Automated Highway System offers the potential for dramatic
changes in the driving experience, such that safety would be vastly increased and drivers would
be free from the stress of driving in heavy, congested traffic. The expected ability of an
Automated Highway System to handle large volumes of traffic also creates benefits for the
entire road network, relieving stress on the surrounding highway, thereby benefiting all users.
AHS will attempt to balance the inherent tradeoffs among safety, environment, congestion,
speed, and community liability, and the goals of each stakeholder group.

The AHS will provide users with the following benefits:

• Safer travel.

• More efficient travel.

• More predictable trip times.

• Environmental benefits.

• Additional mobility to an increasingly aged population.

• Reduced insurance rates due to reduced

numbers/severity of crashes.

 Specific safety goals include the following:

 Significantly reduced driver error by providing for increasing degrees of automated
assistance, from partial control in conventional lanes, up to full control of the vehicle
while in AHS lanes.
 Less frequent and lower severity crashes.

 No collisions in the absence of AHS malfunctions.

 In the event of malfunctions, the use of fail-soft and fail-safe designs. Fail-soft and
fail-safe designs have been used successfully in the defense, aerospace, transit,
and vehicle industry to minimize the effects of failures in the system. AHS will be
designed to minimize both the number of crashes that occur and their severity.

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The AHS will make highway travel less stressful and more enjoyable for all travelers,
including transit and other multiple occupant vehicles. Specific comfort and
convenience goals include the following:

 Reduce travel time and stress of travel for commuters.

 Enhance personal mobility for the elderly or other drivers with special needs -in
performing the driving task.

 Increase the comfort of traveling as a result of increased safety and less

frustration resulting from the decrease in congestion and unpredictable travel
times.

 Reduce the strain of driving on crowded, high-speed highways.

AHS users can expect shorter and more predictable trip times. As a result of reduced
congestion, smoother flow, and higher average speeds, average trip times on the AHS will
be shorter.

For the U.S. Department of Transportation and the public to fully support the AHS,
the long-range AHS effort must also provide benefits that consider the nation's
societal needs. The following have been identified as societal needs that the AHS
can help to achieve:

 Provision of increased, equitable access to transportation by all segments of

society

 Reduced highway congestion and increased safety and security.

 Reduced overall fossil fuel consumption and emissions.

 Support for response to national emergencies, both civil and national defense.

 Support for enhancing the nation's robustness and vitality with a sustainable

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 transportation system.

 Transportation system that increases mobility of people and goods, which can
potentially increase productivity, enhance competitiveness, and result in economic
growth.

The AHS will represent an attractive alternative for handling community transportation
needs and issues. It will provide communities with the following benefits:

 Enhanced quality of life and environmental sustainability in communities. This includes

improved personal security due to improved communications and reduced response time of
emergency vehicles.

 Better support for community policies to reduce demand for new land use for highway
rights-of-way by allowing increases in traffic demand to be handled on existing rights of-way.

 More efficient support for community policies to reduce air pollution.

 More efficient use of scarce resources in ways that minimize environmental impacts and are
compatible with local land use plans.

 Less need for emergency services (e.g., fire, rescue, emergency room treatment) because of
fewer crashes on the highway. Better response time from these services (including law
enforcement) when they are needed in the community as a result of the increased
efficiency of the transportation system and system notification of emergency personnel.

The AHS offers major benefits to industry and U.S. competitiveness in the world market.

 New business opportunities are created by public-private partnerships in support of

AHS.

 Many vehicle manufacturers, highway construction firms, and vehicle electronics

companies will see substantial, long range market opportunities because of the open
architectures and interoperability standards used by the system.

 Trucking firms will benefit from safer highways and more efficient roadway operations,
particularly shorter, more predictable, and reliable point-to-point travel times that will
translate into realistic just-in-time delivery inventory control and lower operating

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 costs. In addition, reduced driver workload will translate into the potential for higher
productivity.

 Industry in general will benefit from increased transportation reliability, mobility, and
flexibility that should translate into faster market response times and reduced
operating costs.

 Industry will benefit from the new business opportunities from spin-off products from
AHS technologies.

 Defense and aerospace firms can use their expertise in this civilian application providing
dual-use technology and products.

5.5.1 AHS PERFORMANCE OBJECTVE

This section describes the performance objectives of the AHS. These objectives were
derived from the original Request for Application to establish a National AHS Consortium,
and revised based on the results from the AHS Precursor System Analyses and the ongoing
NAHSC System Definition efforts including stakeholder feedback provided at the first
Workshop

Improve Safety

The AHS will be collision-free in the absence of AHS malfunctions and will include malfunction
and incident management capabilities that minimize the number and severity of collisions
that occur, as well as reducing the amount of time needed to respond to incidents that do
occur The AHS will provide substantially increased safety to vehicle highway users. Automated
control will greatly eliminate driver generated errors attributable to poor judgment, fatigue,
unpredictable behavior, and personal impairments. Up to 93% of highway crashes are
attributed to driver error. By transferring driver control to the AHS vehicles while on AHS
highways, the automated system will reduce vehicle mishaps per highway kilometer by as much
as 50 to 80 percent. The AHS will interact positively with on-board vehicle monitoring
systems so that defective and manually controlled vehicles are excluded from automated
control lanes.

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 Fig (5.1)

The AHS will show a reduction in the occurrence rate per highway kilometer of fatalities, severe
injuries, and property damage for AHS vehicles under automated control of at least one half
the current rates for highway traffic. This reduction will be accompanied by an ability to
decrease the rate of mishaps resulting in minor injury or property damage on similar types of
highways. The AHS will be designed to ensure that the safety of manually operated vehicles will
not be degraded by AHS.

In normal operating conditions, the driver will transfer vehicle control to the automated
system as a condition of entry into the automated lanes. The AHS will control the vehicle while
it is in the system. Control will be returned to the driver upon exiting the automated system.
This will help ensure that driver errors, both personal and those by drivers in nearby vehicles,
will not result in a mishap. The automated system will take appropriate measures to ensure
that the driver is ready to take control from the automated system before control transfer. To
help increase safety in case of unexpected events, the system will enable the driver to signal an
emergency and bring the system to a halted condition or other fail safe state of operation. This
is similar to the emergency signaling provided on public buses and trains.

The AHS should result in lower insurance costs to drivers and shippers as a result of a
significantly lower rate of loss due to crashes. The AHS system will provide safe operation
under degraded service in the presence of multiple concurrent failures of AHS

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components. Individual failures may occur periodically and the AHS will be designed to
ensure continued safety during and after the failure. Any individual failures occurring
within system facilities or equipment will be transparent to the motoring public. The AHS
will be designed so that multiple failure occurrences result in decreased levels of service
while maintaining safety standards. Individual failures in individual vehicles will result in
the vehicle being removed from the system in a safe and efficient manner. This may
include a concept that has the failed vehicles removed at the nearest available exit,
stopped in a breakdown lane, or stopped in the lane of travel if continued operation
compromises safety.

To ensure the safety of its users, the AHS will be resistant to outside interference and
tampering. The AHS will use protocols and techniques in its communications services that
prevent unauthorized access or interference. The AHS will be designed to respond to
intrusion by pedestrians, animals, environmental conditions (rock and snow), and vehicles
in adjacent lanes.

Increase Efficiency

The AHS will significantly increase the throughput of all accommodated vehicle types in the
United States. As much as a 300% increase may be possible. 19 Throughput improvement
varies depending on weather conditions, traffic conditions at egress points, and vehicle types
accommodated on a specific AHS. Throughput gains will be obtained through significant
reduction of incidents and crashes. The net per-lane throughput of an automobile-only ABS
will be at least double and perhaps triple the per-lane throughput of a conventional highway
under dry and good weather conditions, barring reductions due to specific site conditions. The
throughput gains of those AHS lanes accommodating heavy vehicles intermixed with
automobiles will be lower.

Throughput refers to predicted achievable flow in a particular lane given the physical
configuration (e.g., frequency of entry or exit points), demand pattern and operating policy
(e.g., ramp metering or speed limits). Total conventional roadway capacity refers to the
maximum rate of flow at which persons or vehicles can be reasonably expected to traverse a
point or uniform segment of a lane or roadway during a specified time period under
prevailing roadway, traffic, and control conditions. Dedicated automated lanes on an
urban/suburban AHS may require additional supporting space, e.g., shoulder (breakdown lane),

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transition lane, and areas required at the interface with conventional roadways (including
possible check-in or check-out facilities).

In calculating the capacity increase of the roadway as a whole (e.g., roadway capacity), the
additional amount of supporting space required must be considered. Because the AHS lane
width may be narrower than today's standards, it should also be considered in the capacity
calculations. Roadway capacity measures for AHS must include those measuring maximum
possible flow for the most critical of the following:

 Check-in (the process of determining if the vehicle and driver have the necessary
certification, training, and equipment; verifying the operability of the vehicle; and
processing the vehicle into the system);
 Entry to automated traffic, with or without physical segregation from manual traffic;
 Longitudinal flow;

 Lateral flow, with or without barriers/openings between automated lanes;

 Merging at on-ramps, lane merges and highway-to highway interchanges;

 Exiting from automated traffic, with or without physical segregation from manual traffic;

 Check-out (the process of verifying the readiness of the driver, processing the vehicle out
of the system, and returning the vehicle to manual control).

These basic capacity measures, including physical configuration and operating policy determine
the roadway capacity. Speed regulation is a key performance characteristic of the AHS in
achieving increased throughput. For high-demand urban highways, the AHS will regulate the
speed of all vehicles to achieve the optimum speed to ensure maximum AHS lane throughput.
The AHS will give local highway operators the ability to set the normal operating speed of a
roadway segment to meet local needs, including any desire for shorter trip times. The
maximum design speed of the AHS must be able to provide a desirable service level on intercity
highways, where dedicated AHS lanes are an affordable option and high speeds can be
accommodated by the existing right-of-way. Also, the maximum design speed must
accommodate and provide an acceptable safety margin for the expected range of operating vehicle
designs. For example, a state DOT may plan to operate the AHS initially at 90 kph, then advance
to a speed of 140 kph, and may ultimately consider a maximum design speed of 200 kph.

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Provide More Convenient and Comfortable Highway Traveling

One of the expected major benefits of the AHS will be to increase the convenience of
motor vehicle travel by relieving the driver of the driving task while on the AHS. After
entering the automated highway, the driver will be free to relax and engage in non-
driving tasks, thus improving personal productivity. Under normal circumstances, the
driver will not be required to resume any driving tasks until the requested exit is
approached.

To achieve this improvement in trip quality, the AHS will reduce the stress associated
with manual driving and must not induce stress during automated driving. There will
be less stress on the driver because he or she does not need to control the vehicle or
concentrate on traffic conditions while on the AHS. The driver must feel secure while
on the AHS - confident of their own well being and of the system's ability. The driver
should have less fear from other errant, inattentive, or overaggressive drivers. The
drivers also should have less fear of the consequences of their own driving mistakes.
The driver should also suffer less frustration due to congestion and/or unreliable travel. The
driver should have a feeling of increased safety because far fewer crashes will occur on the
AHS. The ride must be as smooth as good manual driving, with no sudden changes in speed
or direction under normal circumstances. AHS must not permit sudden jerky motions of the
vehicle. Automated maneuvers will be consistent and occur the same way when the
conditions are the same.

Reduce Environmental Impact

The AHS will be consistent with and help satisfy the nation's long term air quality and energy
usage goals as exemplified in national legislation2. 0 The AHS, when coupled with policies
that are aimed at limiting growth of vehicle kilometer traveled (VKT), will help meet the
nation's long-term air quality goals. It will be used by environmental and transportation
professionals to (1) reduce emissions per VKT and (2) enhance the operation of other
pollution-reducing transportation approaches. Reduced trip time, improved reliability, and
more direct non-transfer service available to transit with AHS are highly valued by potential
transit users. As AHS guideways become more available for transit vehicle use throughout a
metropolitan area, these positive service attributes will be available to more residents, further
reducing VKT.

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The AHS is expected to reduce fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions per VKT for internal
combustion engines through smoother vehicle operation (fewer accelerations and
decelerations), and reduced congestion. AHS operations at very close spacings can
dramatically reduce aerodynamic drag on vehicles, thereby substantially reducing fuel
consumption and tailpipe emissions. Also, traffic formerly on surface streets will be attracted
to use AHS. However, the increased AHS capacity may attract additional traffic. Further, the
environmental impact of much larger volumes of vehicles traveling in concentrated corridors
must be understood and accounted for.

Approaches such as encouraging more passengers per vehicle, and policies for ensuring that
this added capacity ultimately results in reduced congestion with no substantial
environmental impact must be developed.

AHS will also support the environment by utilizing existing highways and right-of-ways,
reducing the demand for building new highways that have a detrimental impact on the land.

The AHS will support and enhance the deployment and operation of known alternative
propulsion systems. In addition AHS will provide a base on which roadway-powered
electric vehicle systems might feasibly be developed.

An ongoing trade-off and issue is that the increased throughput enabled by AHS may negate
the positive benefits on emissions. All of these objectives will need to be balanced to find the
best solution for each community.

5.5.2 AHS USER SERVICE OBJECTIVES

The AHS performance objectives described in section 3.0 are common needs for all users;
however, the users of an AHS are a diverse group including: transit, trucking, commuters, and
vacationers. Each of these groups have unique needs that the AHS must service. Many of these
user service objectives can be implemented differently depending on local needs or uses.

Disengage the Driver from Driving

Full automatic control "hands-off and feet-off driving" is a service to be provided to all drivers
on the AHS. Full automatic control will be a learned condition for the driver brought about by
trust in the reliability, safety, and convenience of the AHS. After the driver gains that level of

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 trust in the AHS, the stress associated with driving will be greatly reduced. The driver will
become a passenger in the fully automated AHS and may sleep, read, or work and will not be
required to attend to any driving-related tasks.

Some drivers may want to remain alert to passing vehicles, progress on the AHS, and the
existence of hazards. If the driver detects a mishap, debris, or potential incident, the driver
will be able to communicate that condition to the system. However the system will not rely on
driver detection of these hazards. The system will respond to these conditions, but will retain
vehicle control unless the situation warrants and allows a safe return to driver control.

In addition, the system will attempt to make the driver aware of situations where the driver
must again become engaged. Until a driver responds to these alerts and demonstrates to the
system that manual control can be reassumed, the system will retain control even to the point
of exiting and stopping the vehicle in a safe and effective manner. The return to safe manual
control with short notice during emergency situations requires a strategy of notification to the
driver that encompasses all levels of driver capabilities, including the aged, impaired, hard of
hearing, and inexperienced driver. It also requires a strategy for dealing with drivers who do
not respond to this notification.

One ongoing issue being studied is whether to allow a driver to resume manual control of a
vehicle while in an automated lane. In some situations, driver response times and capabilities
may be inferior to the capabilities provided by the AHS, and permitting the driver to resume
control may present a serious hazard to the system.

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AHS Program Phases and the National Automated Highway Systems
Consortium

The AHS program in United States is planned around three broad phases: Analysis (1993-96),
System Definition (1994-2001), and Operational Tests and Evaluation (starting in 2001). The
National Automated Highway System consortium (NAHSC) is responsible for conducting the
second phase

The Analysis Phase established an analytic program foundation. It consisted of Precursor

Systems Analyses (PSA) [PSA94] by 15 contractor teams that addressed automated vehicle
control requirements and issues in 16 topic areas, a human factors study effort to develop an
AHS human factors design handbook, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) analyses to investigate other ITS automated vehicle control-based services that avoid
collisions through warning and control. The PSA identified issues and risks associated with
various AHS concepts and design areas. All contract teams submitted final reports in November
1994. The NAHSC is actively using these findings in their research.

The Systems Definition Phase is currently underway. The NAHSC is working in partnership with
the federal government. The consortium includes representatives from the vehicle industry,
highway industry, State and local governments, regional and metropolitan transportation
agencies, and electronics/communications industries associated with the vehicle and
communications market.

National Automated Highway System (Fig 6.1)

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6.1 The National AHS Consortium

One of the most intriguing aspects of the AHS program is that its management plan is as
innovative as its technology. A prime, if not the prime, example of this is the consortium that
will manage the AHS program's systems definition phase.

This consortium--which, as of this writing, has not yet been selected--"will provide leadership
and focus to the nation's AHS effort." A solicitation for consortium applicants was issued by the
Department of Transportation this past December; these applications are currently under
review. FHWA will execute a cooperative agreement with the successful applicant. Under this
agreement, the consortium will manage the AHS definition phase; provide for national
coordination, including outreach and public relations; and meet program milestones. In
addition, consortium members will share in the project's cost, contributing time, materials,
and/or funds equal to at least 20 percent of the costs of the activities conducted under the
agreement.

The National AHS Consortium will symbolize a "new partnership between the public and private
sectors." And it's a partnership that makes good sense. AHS will depend on cutting-edge
technology. Success means tapping into the diverse experiences, knowledge, creativity, and
expertise represented by the various consortium members. AHS is a radical departure from
today's means and methods. Success means having the visible and unwavering support of the
consortium membership and their constituents. Success means using consortium members'
crucial financial and other resources. The consortium members will enjoy future payoffs in new
business and enhanced services to their customers, and society as a whole will enjoy the broad
benefits of highway automation.

In short, the AHS program's consortium management approach will help ensure that every
intriguing idea is considered, every concerned voice is heard, and every stakeholder is a full
partner in the effort.

A key component of the AHS human factors research is driving simulation using Iowa
University's highly sophisticated, motion-based driving simulator. The simulator consists of a
Ford Taurus with three seamless widescreen projection systems showing realistic computer-
generated roadway scenes around the vehicle and a motion system that provides the
sensations of braking and accelerating. Together, these components yield a very high-quality
driving simulation.

The human factors team will complete a preliminary handbook addressing these and other
issues as they relate to AHS design by 1994; a second edition of these design guidelines should
be ready by 1996. This research will provide essential guidance to the National AHS Consortium
during the initial prototype system design.

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 CONCLUSIONS
Transportation systems are an indispensable part of human activities. Estimation shows that an
average of 40% of the population spends at least one hour on the road each day. People have
become much more dependent on transportation systems in recent years; transportation
systems themselves face not only several opportunities but several challenges as well. The
competitiveness of a country, its economic strength and productivity heavily depend on the
performance of its transportation systems. Three successively more comprehensive reference
models have been presented to depict how an AHS might evolve using incremental introduction
of functionality. These models indicate precedence constraints on the introduction of
capabilities and depict how the introduction of inter-vehicle communication and infrastructure
support can increase the efficacy of an AHS. The models also demonstrate that addition of
additional capabilities in most cases does not supplant previously introduced in-vehicle
functionality.

The first reference model suggests that full tactical driving capability requires neither inter-
vehicle communication nor roadside-to-vehicle communication. However, if robust
communication mechanisms can be provided, communications might be used to significantly
improve the quality of maneuvering and collision avoidance capabilities. With the exception of
merging, adding communication capabilities does not obviate the need for any vehicle based
functions when these vehicles are incrementally introduced onto an existing roadway system.
The presence of non-AHS-equipped and older-but-equipped vehicles in an incremental
deployment scheme necessitates the development of in-vehicle systems that can function
effectively without relying on communication.

Even though an end-state of full automation is desirable, the reality is that an incremental
deployment will be necessary. As shown by the reference models, there appear to be a number
of obtainable safeties and efficiency benefits at intermediate deployment points utilizing partial
automation and in some cases no automation. Using these models as a roadmap may help plan
evolutionary approaches to creating an AHS that satisfy both technical constraints and a need
to provide value before fully automated operation is achieved.

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