THE AUTOMOBILE: CLEAN AND CUSTOMIZED

Built-in intelligence will let automobiles tune themselves to their drivers and cooperate to get through crowded traffic systems safely. So significant are traffic congestion concerns in industrialized countries, that they have prompted the world's automobile makers to do something they never have before: join forces with one another and with a host of technical firms and research institutes to chart the course of automotive transportation in the next few decades. These ambitious programs, undertaken separately in Europe and the U.S., addressed safety and environmental and economic concerns; what was most notable about them, however, was their focus on traffic as a whole. In Europe, much of the conceptual work for this grand plan was carried out between 1986 and 1994 as part of a program called Prometheus (Program for European Traffic with Highest Efficiency and Unprecedented Safety). Both the U.S. and Japan have corresponding projects under way. The U.S. effort is called the Intelligent Vehicle and Highway System (now Intelligent Transportation Systems); Japan's program, concentrating on transmitting traffic information at intersections, is known as the Vehicle Information Communication System.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00368733
• Corporate Authors:

  Scientific American Incorporated

  415 Madison Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10017
• Authors:
  • Zetsche, D
• Publication Date: 1995-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: p. 102-106
• Serial:
  • Scientific American
  • Volume: 273
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Scientific American Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0036-8733

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automotive engineering; Intelligent transportation systems; Intelligent vehicles; Technology
• Geographic Terms: Europe; Japan
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00711483
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 26 1995 12:00AM