The benefits of automated intelligent transportation net

Logically, new technologies are better than old ones if they afford more opportunities to their users. According to this logic adding automation and intelligent to existing vehicles is an improvement that can not be denied.

We assume a full automatic intelligent transportation net and not hybrid manual and automatic system. The exclusive machine control is needed to synchronize the traffic on the net, and to avoid machine and human conflicts.

In addition to the basic two features of automation and intelligent other positive feature may be easily integrated to the net. Features like consolidation, compactness, standardization and communication may be easily integrated to innovative systems and enhance the opportunities exponentially.

A new rainbow of possibilities

Herein we try to depict the new opportunities, benefits and creative solutions that will be enabled by automation and intelligent transportation net, as well as some shortages of the suggested additions. Obviously, reality and imagination may go further than this limited list.

Safety

Safety should be a paramount factor in planning a new transportation system. In automatic intelligent transportation net there are more possibilities for safety features.

  • Extracting human factor - Existing vehicles are driven by a mosaic of combinations of human society, not all fit for responsible driving, i.e., criminals, who are reckless, irresponsible, or lack coordination. Machines extract the human factor in road accident, they drive with no human ill traits or bad mood, machine do not initiate self-failures as humans, they are not tired, do not drink alcohol or take drugs, hence machines driving has safety advantages.

  • Entrusting machines - Obviously, machines and computers are subjected to failures and mishaps, but machine failures can be backed-up and can be subjected to safety checks and control in a better way than human driver.

    Everyone, who is afraid to entrust machines with human safety, should remember that machines carry the existing transportation, and that electronics technologies are more reliable than mechanical.

  • Improving infrastructure factor - On guide-ways net, vehicles will move in line in one direction. This structure will totally avoid the possibility of frontal collisions or, collisions caused by overtaking.

    Consolidated compact scheme will make it easy to build more interchanges to avoid the possibility of side collisions. In places where interchanges are impossible, not required or unjustified, intelligent substitute for traffic lights may set traffic priorities and safety.

    There are several solutions to avoid front-to-back collisions of two vehicles or more on one guide-way, among them vehicle concatenation or movement synchronization. The vehicles may have buffers that will cover faults in the control systems. Since vehicles will inspire to be standard and will move on the same tracks, the collision points will be the same, and buffers could suspend shocks efficiently.

    The main safety problem of machine driving is collision with human that will pass on or by the automated guide-ways. Isolating the guide-ways for human approach can face this problem. It can be done by elevated or underground ways, by differential leveling, by fences or by sensors that will alarm or stop traffic in case of danger. In residential areas or by entrance and exit outlets the vehicle speed must be reduced and can be high sensitive to touch to avoid dangers.

    Compact scheme will make it easier to build small bridges, or underground passages for pedestrians in relatively short intervals at a reasonable cost. Intelligent pedestrians' crossings may be set to stop traffic or control that roads crossing are done under safe conditions.

    Regarding the fact that the system will provide a comfortable on demand solution to transfer passengers from a specific point to a specific destination even at a short distance, the quantity of pedestrians and the friction between vehicles and pedestrians will be reduced.

  • Environmental effects - Vehicle's safety and security can be based on intelligent control systems rather than heavy steel chassis. Driving assemblies could be minimal and compact and hence the vehicles will be lighter, demand relatively small and low power engines and will emit less pollution and noise. Few vehicles that are running on one guide-way to the same direction may be concatenated and save traffic volume and energy.

    It should be noted that better transportation system may serve the same people by producing less pollution, but environmental friendliness is not guaranteed by better systems. Thriving transportation scheme may arose flourishing traffic of human and goods 24 hours a day and create more pollution. Environmental balance could and should be set in a better and efficient way of pricing or regulation.

  • Emergency services - Intelligent systems could evacuate roads for high-speed emergency vehicles and improve their accessibility when needed.

Social equality or wise socialism

  • Equal opportunities - In comparison to the social revolution that began in the early 20th century, the television and World Wide Web caused a global social revolution with unprecedented success, without a drop of blood or street protests. The connection with the net provides everyone with accessibility to enormous information that is more than individual capacity is able to absorb and use. The connection to the Internet gives equal opportunities to many individuals to become wealthy. We believe that the Internet is a symbol for wise and modern global socialism.

    Transportation net could supplement the information net. It may supply equal opportunities for many people, and may contribute to social justice and social relationship. Driving automated vehicle will be simple and not require special skills; coordination, concentration, orientation or memorizing complicated regulations. The drivers will not be asked for driving tests or a driving license. The most limited users will be able to input their destination, and machines will carry out the rest. The destination could be defined, similar to that of the Internet address, by analog or digital address, or by pointing on a geographic map, or a coordinator.

    Transportation opportunities for youngsters, elders, handicapped and poor will be equal to those of others. Independent of the severely handicapped could be improved by magnetic cards pre-loaded with addresses of relatives, hospitals and other requirements.

  • Social life - An efficient transportation system will certainly influence family and social life. Personal relations will be enhanced, reducing fears and mistrust, lubricating the cogs of society and economy. It will be easier to meet family members, and people who share common interest may group together easily for a face-to-face meetings.

  • General welfare and elevation the standard of living - Transportation is a common component in the total cost of most products and services, that adds cost and value in every stage of productivity. Efficient transportation may cause economical revolution; it may cause significant global reduction in the cost of most products and services to the benefit of the vast majority of society.

Efficiency

Automated intelligent transportation net can dramatically change transportation efficiency, and be a tremendous revolution.

  • Machines and human efficiency - Not all human drivers are skillful drivers, some of them lack good manners, others are hesitant or curious drivers who slow down to read road signs or measure the legs of a nice pedestrian, dragging a trail of cars behind. The variation of drivers from time to time creates dangerous, disharmonious or an ugly composition of inefficient traffic. Automatic driving miss human deficiencies that effect transportation drawbacks.

    Machines overpower human limits. Automation enables more accurate control, synchronization and better timing that add more possibilities to use the time dimension. In cruise driving, automatic control will minimize the gaps between cars, improve traffic rate and enable smooth drive. In merging or crossing points automation and intelligent regulation will enable smooth and fluent locomotion.

    The complicated laws and regulations that encompass existing traffic could be burnt into microchips brains in more accurate and effective way than human's education and self discipline.

    Intelligent navigation and orientation can be made by machines in more effective way than average human skills enable, with the ability to receive data concerning the forthcoming situation, the future of the travel and to recalculate the orientation.

  • Compactness - What is the ideal size of a vehicle? Large vehicles save manpower and are less limited to load large or heavy cargoes than small ones, but small vehicles are cheaper, more flexible, demand simple and relatively low cost infrastructure, less space, and are more compatible to transfer small shipments.

    The answer of the existing transportation scheme to the dilemma mentioned above is logical and simple. Most roads are compatible to use different kinds of vehicles, and various vehicles are suitable for different vocations.

    Automatic intelligent transportation net can be designed to fit different size of vehicles and pay the same price that the existing systems pays, but can add creative solutions to solve the size dilemma in a more efficient way.

    In automatic systems the manpower argument is neglected. Few small vehicles may transfer divided cargo that otherwise had been carried by one large vehicle, without manpower at all. Standard automatic intelligent vehicles may be designed to accommodate common compact size, (which naturally will be derived from human dimensions and not elephants), and solve the exceptional large cargoes problems by parallel and/or linear synchronize movement of few vehicles carrying together one solid huge cargo. The synchronization may be done by intelligent movement control or by physical concatenation.

    Smaller automatic and more standard cars will enable more flexibility and much more option of engineering and usage. It should be kept in mind that tiny units create great wonders, and limited letters and numbers combine infinite information. Ants' work demonstrates the wonderful abilities of compact units engineering.

    Small dimensions enable much more possibilities to use the three dimensions. It could be easier to construct more lanes or additions of levels of elevated roads or underground tunnels, to construct bridges above water or marsh lands, or small interchanges in populated or occupied areas. Compactness enables to build new ways in narrow passages, to create more shortcuts, or to use ways that had been designated in the past for horses and carriages.

    Compact infrastructure will create much more opportunities for roads architecture. Ways could be constructed and maintained easier and more efficiently. Adaptability to local weather conditions could be set better; snow or frost evacuation from narrow guide-ways may be easier than from wide roads. Elevated narrow ways may be an answer to shallow snow layers or an answer to floods in areas that are prone to these problems.

    Standard human size vehicles may demand solution for shipments that are smaller then the standard, like mail or small deliveries of pizzas, newspapers, or groceries. More creative solutions may answer these demands. Standard size vehicles containing compartments may serve as smart deliveries or post vehicles. Small cargo vehicles could be designated as "parasite" vehicles containing with small engines that can self-propel themselves to a certain route, and then be attached to or detached from other vehicles. These vehicles could be used as future automatic motor scooters.

  • Consolidation - In automatic intelligent transportation net the infrastructure and the vehicles are one consolidated system that should work in harmony.

    Consolidation of transportation means have lots of advantages for the general riders. No more high-speed vehicles crawling in block roads but focused ways which are developing with the vehicles. Roads net will create flexibility and many alternative ways to travel from one point to another, similar to the Internet. Computerized control systems can concern that if one route is blocked, alternative routes will bypass the obstruction.

    Cargo vehicles could be shipped as E-mail and self-driven on the net with no escort to predefined destinations.

    Roads, which are focused to serve the vehicles riding on them in harmony, will be more efficiently constructed and maintained.

  • Standardization - Automatic intelligent transportation systems demand standard guide-way and as a result the vehicles will be more uniform and standard. More professionals who will learn the same theories and could help each other could easily maintain standard system.

    Wide standards may be cost effective in a level that in some places it may be more economical to transfer water or gas containers, energy cells, or even sewage by standard transportation ways rather than by pipes and pumps or electricity poles.

  • Intelligent, opportunities and features - Intelligent may add the time dimension to traffic. Intelligent systems may enable to preprogram or command traffic, to delay shipments to the right timing, to operate or move vehicles at a specific time or under certain conditions.

    Sophisticated passengers could have various opportunities, such as maintaining different addresses by certain commands, choosing a route or asking for preferences between alternative routes. Vehicles computer screens may supply different information, time, velocity, estimated time to reach a destination, elapsed time, and may be used as a conventional computer for the benefit of the passenger.

  • Communication - Intelligent systems combined with communication technologies may enable remote control of vehicle movement, to command vehicle to park in certain place or time, to attend or wait for the customer in a meeting point or time, or to make errands or deliveries.

    Regulation of congestion can be set by real time data to real points on the net. Intelligent regulation can use not only different route in space, but different time. Exigency levels may be set priorities between urgent or non essential movements.

  • Utilization - Most of the cars will be service vehicles, such as taxis, and could be utilize by many different users. They could be ordered for assignments by telephone calls or by scattered self-service points of call. The service vehicles could be remote-controlled by service-control center. The vehicles will drive themselves to their destination, and after arrival will move on to a close parking area, to respond to a new order or to a more heavily requested area.

  • Modularity - Small units may be utilized in modular way, by concatenation, synchronization, or by commanding separately more than one car. Cargo units may be served as a mobile lockers or warehouses. Craftsman who use his car as a mobile workshop or mobile warehouse could divide his conventional car as two smaller units, one will serve his personal mobility and the other will serve as a mobile workshop or tools warehouse. Spacious car that serve big family may be divided to few small vehicles that will serve each family member to his destination or all the family by concatenation of more than one vehicle.

  • Trustworthy - Existing vehicles have been reached satisfied level of reliability. Electronics technologies are more reliable than mechanical and hence trustworthy supposed to be improved.

    Fluent transportation without fluctuation of congestion waves, and system comprehensive self regulation may improve trusting the scheme and the abilities to set timetables of depart without coefficient safeguards.

    The movement on the exact same guide-way may enable the possibility to back-up fault vehicles by sound vehicles that will push or drag them to safe place.

    Intelligent systems enable failure or trouble detecting, and communication enable to transmit data about failures.

  • Speed - Efficient system may open bottlenecks and enhance traffic speed. Transportation network can be designed to accommodate different kinds of lanes, corridors or peripheral paths with different speed at different time. In places were parallel lanes are existed, riders may chose the preferred lane and prefer cruise speed.

Economical advantages

  • Vehicle cost - Automatic transit system will save most people the cost of car purchase. Intelligent possibilities may set smarter, more justified and fine tuned differential pricing to balance supply and demand and regulate the general traffic. Money charge of most operations could be done automatically by consumers' self-service.

  • Harmony - Application of principles such as safety, efficiency, order, flexibility and reliability could cause a revolution in markets, enhance project managing and merchandise. Markets connected to the transportation network will have the ability to work in harmony, as one huge concern, or one big warehouse. A factory that assembles components that are manufactured elsewhere will be considered as local, regardless of geographic span.

    Compact and standard cargo vehicles could be an integral part of the industrial process. At the end of production lines, products will be packaged and loaded on cargo vehicles, immediately ready to be shipped to customers. On the other side, customers could rely on a streamlined supply of merchandise on demand, without problems of shipments.

  • Risk management - Small shipments by compact vehicles could diminish commercial risks. Small shipments, instead of larger ones that are presently in use due to the size of the truck volume, will reduce the risk of large-scale shipment loss or damage.

Land use

  • Architectural possibilities - Scheme consolidation, using the three dimensions, and the time dimension will free lands, save real estate cost and overcome legal barrier to the best infrastructure.

  • Land occupation - Automatic intelligent transportation scheme can use, as an over qualified means, the existing infrastructure that had been built in the past according to historical planning, save the need to construct new roads and free lands used by the existing system. Shrinkage of transportation systems will free land occupied by road and parking areas. Efficient vehicle services will cause most travelers to forsake private vehicles and will free more areas. Standard compact vehicles may be parked in condensed parking with no need to maneuvering large space between the vehicles.

  • Efficient land use - Available transportation may add much more opportunities to use efficiently condensed town centers or decentralize heavily populated areas by better locomotion in wide web of ways. Evolved communication combined with available transportation may obscure the distinction between rural areas and city centers, and as a result utilization or cost of land in rural or far areas may equalize with those in cities.

Security

  • Easy tracking - The participation of computers and control systems will be a useful tool to track passenger identity, by authentication systems, to follow suspected movement, or to trace cargo vehicles subjected to apprehension for theft or obstruction.

Comfort

  • Comfort usage - Automatic vehicle may take its riders without the need to drive, manage and operate any machinery, except the initial orders that will be supplied to the vehicle microprocessor. The passenger will be free to indulge, will not have to steer, brake, accelerate, concentrate on the traffic or deal with other disturbances related to present driving conditions.

  • Smooth and quite cruise - Total separation could be between the loading volume assembly, and motor and control assembly. Systems comprising steering, gear, accelerator, and breaks, will be machine controlled and invisible to the user. Automatic cruise control could replace human reaction time and enable smoother cruise.

  • Less drudgery - Intelligent enables most vehicle users to ride and leave them to the use of others, saving the drudgery that tied up to the car holding like parking, fueling, operation, maintenance or cleaning.

    Private vehicle owners could leave the vehicle after use direct it to an adjacent parking place, or to fulfill a new mission, loaded or empty, and recollect the vehicle by a preprogrammed command or by a remote order. Those who insist on using private vehicles will be obligated to maintain the car, but this will be performed easily, due to the standardization.

  • Transit services - Existing public transit collect many riders in a large vehicle driven by one driver saving labor cost. The existing system is usually not available or less frequent around the 24 hours of the day. Automatic transportation can serve many people together like in elevators, ski-lifts or trains, but the relative advantage of independent on labor cost can make the service by fleet of many small private vehicles. The service could be done on demand, from origin to destination, around the clock, in privacy, at any weather, with no need to stop for other passengers.

  • Logic and foresight - Computerized control vehicles will add logic and foresight to transportation. In consideration of the users' instructions and preferences, computer and control systems can determine speed, preferred routes, and the best way in which to move from one point to another.

Fun and sport

  • Fun - The free riding will make it possible to enjoy reading, playing, music, video or computers. Automation lacks the fun of sportive driving, but this is not a transportation-focused vocation. Less traffic congestion and better efficiency will leave the users more leisure time for sport, including driving in sport cars.

  • Image expression - the existing private vehicles serve as a mean for image expression; standard transit vehicles can not fulfill this mission. Image expression is not a transportation-focused vocation, but could be answered by limited amount of private vehicles for those that will insist or need them.

Conclusion

Automated intelligent transportation may have some deficiencies related to existing methods. The attachment to net of ways and the need to be streamlined with the traffic on the net may be one of the noticeable shortcomings compared to the existing free cars. Compactness, consolidation and standardization of transportation means may occasionally cause discomfort to individuals, or self-driven cargo vehicles may stimulate modern piracy.

Nevertheless, the potential advantages of new automatic intelligent systems are so significant that apparently they justify sacrificing the traditional roads for restricting guide-ways, or sacrifice some individuals' amenities for the benefit of the general public and most society members.

Responses and comments would be welcome at rothar@inter.net.il
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