ON THE FLOW CAPACITY OF AUTOMATED HIGHWAYS

VIRTUALLY ALL PROPOSED SYSTEMS FOR HIGHWAY AUTOMATION HAVE AT LEAST ONE MODE IN COMMON-STEADY-STATE CAR FOLLOWING. THE NATURE OF THIS MODE IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, AS IT CAN DETERMINE THE UPPER LIMIT OF FLOW DAPACITY OF AN AUTOMATED HIGHWAY. THIS LIMIT IS EXPLORED FOR A LINEAR HEADWAY CONTROLLER, AND A FUNDAMENTAL RELATION BETWEEN THE EFFECTIVE VEHICLE RESPONSE TIME AND THE PERMISSIBLE TRAFFIC STREAM DENSITY IS OBTAINED. THE REQUIRED INTERVEHICULAR SPACING WITH A LINEAR HEADWAY CONTROLLER IS SHOWN TO BE PROPORTIONAL TO THE EFFECTIVE VEHICLE TIME CONSTANT FOR SMALL-SIGNAL INPUTS; THUS, ONE CAN ACHIEVE SMALL SPACINGS AND HIGH FLOW RATES BY REDUCING THIS PARAMETER TO 1 SEC OR LESS. HOWEVER, THE VEHICLE IS THEN HIGHLY RESPONSIVE TO SMALL CHANGES IN LEAD-VEHICLE SPEED - POSSIBLY RESULTING IN BOTH PASSENGER DISCOMFORT AND POOR FUEL ECONOMY. THESE SHORTCOMINGS CAN BE AVOIDED BY USING A LINEAR VELOCITY CONTROLLER FOR AUTOMATIC CAR FOLLOWING. /AUTHOR/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1767714
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 4, No 1, PP 52-63, 6 FIG, 7 REF, 1 APP
• Corporate Authors:

  Operations Research Society of America

  428 East Preston Street
  Baltimore, MD  United States  21202
• Authors:
  • Bender, J G
  • Fenton, R E
• Publication Date: 0

Media Info

• Serial:
  • Transportation Science
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
  • ISSN: 0041-1655
  • Serial URL: http://transci.journal.informs.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automated highways; Automatic control; Car following; Highway capacity; Spacing; Speed; Traffic flow; Vehicles; Velocity
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227255
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 15 1970 12:00AM