Roadway Electrification and Automation Technologies

This paper explains how the new technologies of roadway electrification and automation can be applied to help alleviate the severe transportation/environmental/energy problems facing our major metropolitan areas. The necessity of a complete system solution that encompasses these three problem areas simultaneously is emphasized. While the roadway‐electrification technology is targeted at the environmental and energy problems, the automatic steering and longitudinal control technologies serve to enhance mobility and safety in our urban motor transportation system. The vehicle control technologies offer the potential for dramatic increases in roadway capacity, which can significantly reduce travel times in congested urban regions. The significant synergism among the three technologies means that coordinated development and implementation will be significantly more beneficial than an approach that focuses on only one or two of the three technologies.