PRECURSOR SYSTEMS ANALYSES OF AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMS. FINAL REPORT. ACTIVITY AREA H: AHS ROADWAY DEPLOYMENT ANALYSIS

This activity addresses highway infrastructure topics that will be encountered when an automated highway system (AHS) is deployed. AHS right-of-way requirements were analyzed, based on the following criteria: width of AHS vehicle, ability of the system to keep the vehicle on the desired path, barrier width (for dedicated systems), presence or absence of shoulder (breakdown lane), and width of the shoulder. AHS capacity was established by utilizing traffic densities based on platoon sizes, inter-platoon spacings, and intra-platoon spacing. Inter-platoon spacing considered several failure assumptions and the requirement that inter-platoon spacing provide safe braking distances based on the failure assumptions. Based on this analysis, it is concluded that AHS capacities as high as 6,000 vehicles per lane per hour would be feasible. This established the range of capacity used in further Precursor Systems Analyses.