Smart highways, smart cars

This book provides an overview of current Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) projects and a vision of the future for IVHS activities. The main focus is on projects in the United States. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the book's contents. Chapter 2 describes significant activities that contributed to the formulation of the national IVHS program and organization of the IVHS subsystems. The six subsystems are advanced traffic management systems (ATMS), advanced traveler information systems (ATIS), commercial vehicle operations (CVO), advanced vehicle control systems (AVCS), advanced public transportation systems (APTS), and advanced rural transportation systems (ARTS). The most significant development in the rapid growth of IVHS activities is the organization and funding of the national IVHS program. This took place in 1990, with the organization of IVHS America, and in 1991, with the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Chapter 3 provides an overview of the formation and scope of the national IVHS program, including the organization of IVHS America and the legislative mandate encompassed by ISTEA. It categorizes the various participants and their roles in the total enterprise. It outlines the Strategic Plan for IVHS and discusses institutional and legal issues, such as the balance between public and private participation and legal liability issues, that cut across IVHS activities. This chapter concludes with a general discussion of the relevance of technology from U.S. military programs. The next six chapters--4 through 9--discuss each of the IVHS subsystem activities. The IVHS community's vision is that the subsystem technologies now being developed, evaluated, and deployed will evolve toward a unified national IVHS, a system that would be deployed in stages in a manner similar to the construction of the interstate highway system. Chapter 10 discusses four current projects that support national IVHS development: the IVHS Architecture development project; the Automated Highway System (AHS) prototype; the AHS precursor systems analysis; and IVHS operational tests and the Corridors Program. Chapters 11 and 12 describe programs in Europe and Japan that involve technologies similar to IVHS activities in the U.S.