Automated Vehicles in Cities: A First Step Towards the Automated Highway

The concept of the automated highway has been around for several decades. However, even if the technology has much progressed and has been demonstrated recently in quite elaborate forms, it is still unclear how it can be deployed realistically. The manufacturers now seem to propose a very gradual approach through the introduction of driving aids such as active trajectory control (ABS and ESP), adaptive cruise control (ACC), collision warning and vigilance monitoring.

Here, we take the stand that a more disruptive process can take place with fully automated vehicles deployed locally as a public transport system based on individual vehicles. These vehicles would use dedicated road tracks, more or less protected from the intrusion of other vehicles. Later in the process of deployment of these dedicated roads, they could be made available to private vehicles equipped with driving automation.