THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STATUS REPORT ON THE AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEM PROGRAM

Recent research in automated highways has clearly indicated that automated vehicle control technology offers major improvements in the safety and efficiency of existing vehicle-highway systems. With this in mind, Congress included Section 6054(b) in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to enhance and focus the nations research into automated highways. The United States Department of Transportation Automated Highway System program responds to that guidance. It is a government-industry-academia collaboration to apply automated vehicle control technology to the existing US highway system to greatly improve the mobility, safety, and quality of highway travel. The efficiency of automated highways is also expected to help conserve energy resources and to be compatible with urban air quality goals. The Automated Highway System program was initiated in 1992 as part of the US Department of Transportations Intelligent Transportation Systems program. The purpose of this document is to provide a status report of the Automated Highway System program, in response to Congress' request, as part of the 1994 Appropriations