INTELLIGENT VEHICLE HIGHWAY SYSTEMS: CHALLENGE FOR

THE FUTURE

Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems is a new paradigm for transportation in this

nation. It involves the integration of technology in areas such as communications,
information systems, sensors, and operation research methods with conventional
transportation infrastructure to address many transportation issues that confront the
nation at this time. It is a fundamentally new way of thinking about transportation.

IVHS has the potential for substantially improving our transportation systems.
The goals and objectives of IVHS include improved safety. reduced congestion,
increased and higher quality mobility, improved environmental quality and energy
efficiency. improved economic productivity, the development of an IVHS supply
industry in the United States, major changes in the transportation profession, and the
development and deployment of a variety of new technologies and new partnerships
between the public and private sector.

While IVHS has the potential, substantial work needs to take place if IVHS is to
be successful. In this paper, we have discussed the institutional barriers that IVHS
faces Further, there are important hardware and software technological challenges that
must be met.
In 1986, an informal group of academics, federal and state transportation officials,
and representatives of the private sector began to meet to discuss the future of the
surface

transportation system in the United States. These meetings were motivated by several
key factors.
First, the group was looking ahead to 1991 when a new federal transportation bill
was scheduled to be enacted. It was envisioned that this 1991 transportation bill
would be the first one in the post-Interstate era. The Interstate system, a $120 billion
dollar program, had been the keystone of the highway system in the United States
since the mid-1950s. By 1991 this project would be largely complete. A new vision
for the transportation system in the United States needed to be developed.
Second, despite the advances in highway transportation in the United States
brought about by the development of the Interstate, a large number of major problems
remained. First, congestion had been growing dramatically over the past twenty to
thirty years-leading to gridlock conditions in a number of US cities. Further, it was
clear that we could no longer build our way out of these congestion problems because
of economic, political and social constraints, particularly in urban areas.
From the highway passenger’s viewpoint, traffic delays are substantial and
growing. Rush hour conditions in many metropolitan areas often extend throughout
the day. The percentage of peak hour travel on urban interstates that occurred under
congested conditions reached 70% in 1989, up from 41% in 1975. Urban freeway
delay is now 2 billion vehicle hours per year - about 65% of this due to non- recurring
incidents.
Further, safety problems abound. Safety on our nation’s highways is an important
public health problem. In 1991, the US paid the extraordinary costs of 41,000 deaths
and 5,000,000 injuries on our highways. Traffic accidents cost the US an estimated
$70 billion in lost wages and other direct costs annually. The economic loss from
traffic crashes is 2% of the US gross national product. It amounts to $0.05 per
vehicle-mile traveled or $600 per year per motor vehicle.
Also, the US was (and is) concerned with the environmental impacts of
transportation and the energy implications of various transportation policies. Any new
initiatives in the surface transportation world had to explicitly consider environmental
and energy issues.
The third major motivation for considering the future of surface transportation is
national productivity and international competitiveness, both closely linked to the
efficiency of our transportation system. In 1986, our major economic rivals in western
Europe (Project Prometheus) and Japan (Project AMTICS and RACS) were
advancing very quickly in areas involving the development of new technologies for
use in advanced surface transportation systems. Their use of high technology concepts
in the information systems and communications areas were envisioned as having the
opportunity to revolutionize the world of surface transportation, improving the
competitiveness of these nations and providing them with an important new set of
industries and markets.

Thus, the small group saw before it an opportunity based upon:

New transportation legislation (at that time five years in the future),

concern for continuing transportation problems in the US despite major

investment in the transportation system, and the
development by our economic competitors in western Europe and Japan of
various technologies that could enhance their industry posture and their productivity.
The essential concept was a simple one: marry the world of high technology and
dramatic improvements in areas such as information systems, communications,
sensors and advanced mathematical methods with the world of conventional surface
transportation infrastructure; provide capacity that can no longer be provided with
concrete and steel with technological advances; improve safety through technology
enhancements and better understanding of human factors; and provide transportation
choices and control transportation system operations through advanced operations
research and systems analysis methods.
The small group became “Mobility 2000” which produced a landmark document
in 19902, laying out a vision for what came to be called IVHS (Intelligent Vehicle
Highway Systems) which was defined as “a system which applies technologies of
communications, control, electronics and computer hardware and software to the
surface transportation system”.

In 1990, the need for a formal organization became clear and IVHS America (the
Intelligent Vehicle Highway Society of America) was formed as a utilized Federal
Advisory Committee for the US Department of Transportation. Currently, IVHS
America has 250 organizational members.
 In December 1991, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA)
became law. It’s purpose was ... to develop a National Intermodal Transportation
System that is economically sound, provides the foundation for the Nation to compete
in the global economy, and will move people and goods in an energy efficient
manner.”

As was envisioned in 1986, IVHS was an integral part of ISTEA with $660
million allocated for research, development and operational tests. This, together with
substantial state and local government funds and private investment, suggests that
IVHS will be a critical component of the US transportation landscape for the 21st
century.

In June 1992, IVHS America produced a “Strategic Plan for Intelligent Vehicle
Highway Systems in the US” and delivered it to DOT as a 20-year blueprint for
research, development, operational testing and deployment.

The vision far IVHS was articulated as follows:

A national system that operates consistently and efficiently across the US to

promote the safe, orderly and expeditious movement of people and goods.
An efficient mass transit system that interacts smoothly with improved highway
operations.
A vigorous US IVHS industry supplying bothdomestic and intemational needs.

Transportation& Technologv

The marriage of transportation and technology is a phenomenon that has existed

throughout human history. In the early part of this century, innovation in construction
and manufacturing technologies made the current transportation system possible. We
now have the need for a new round of technological innovation, appropriate to the
transportation issues of today.

The US has evolved as an information and communications intensive society with

extraordinary improvements in the cost and performance of computational and
communications systems. These technologies have provided the basis for this
evolution and they can be combined with conventional transportation infrastructure to
form Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS). This is the
transportation/information infrastructure, a new approach to surface transportation.
The transportation/information infrastructure is a paradigm shift; it is a new way
of looking at, thinking about, and improving mobility. The transportation/information
infrastructure mates a new range of important improvements by providing information
and control assistance to the traveler through in-vehicle and hand-held devices, by
improving the ability to coordinate transportation operations in metropolitan areas,
and by providing travel choices and aid in selecting the best trip for a particular
traveler. It can transform individual mobility into an integrated system.

Functional Areas In IVW

It is convenient to think of IVHS in terms of six areas. This gives us a framework

within which to discuss the various functions and operations of a fully deployed IVHS
system.

Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS). ATMS will integrate

management of various roadway functions. It will predict traffic congestion and
provide alternative routing instructions to vehicles over regional areas to improve the
efficiency of the highway network and maintain priorities for high-occupancy
vehicles. Real time data will be collected, utilized, and disseminated by ATMS
systems and will further alert transit operators of alternative routes to improve transit
operations. Dynamic traffic control systems will respond in real time to changing
conditions across different jurisdictions (for example, by routing drivers around
accidents). Incident detection will be a critical function in reducing congestion on the
nation’s highways.
Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) Advanced Traveler
Information Systems involves providing data to travelers in their vehicle, in their
home or at their place of work. Information will include: location of incidents,
weather problems, road conditions, optimal routings, lane restrictions and in- vehicle
signing. Information can be provided both to drivers and to transit users and, in fact,
can provide information to people before their trip to decide what mode they should
take.
Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS).

AVCS is viewed as an enhancement of the driver’s control of the vehicle to make

travel both more safe and more efficient. AVCS includes a broad range of concepts
that will become operational on different time scales.

In the near term, collision warning systems would alert the driver to a possible
imminent collision. In more advanced systems, the vehicle would automatically break
or steer away from a collision. Both systems are autonomous to the vehicle and can
provide substantial benefits by improving safety and reducing accident induced
congestion.

In the longer term, AVCS concepts would rely more heavily on infrastructure
information and control that could produce improvements in roadway throughput of
two to four times. Movements of all vehicles in special lanes are automatically
controlled. One could envision cars running in closely spaced (headways of less than
one foot) platoons of ten or more, at normal highway speed, under automatic control.

The above three, ATMS, ATIS, and AVCS, are all technological functions of
IVHS. ATMS and ATIS will have early applications in urban and suburban areas.
AVCS is envisioned as a longer term program.

In addition, there are three major applications areas that are already beginning to
draw upon IVHS technologies. These are:
Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO).In CVO, the private operators of trucks,
vans, and taxis have already begun to adopt IVHS technologies to improve the
productivity of their fleets and the efficiency of their operations. This is proving to be
a leading edge application because of direct bottom-line advantages.
Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS). AFTS can use the above
technologies to greatly enhance the accessibility of information to users of public
transportation as well as to improve scheduling of public transportation vehicles and
the utilization of bus fleets.

Advanced Rural Transportation Systems (ARTS). The special economic

constraints of relatively low density roads and the question of how IVHS technologies
can be applied in this environment is a challenge that is being undertaken by many
rural states.