INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNIITES FOR TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING

This short article reviews how information technology is being used and exploited by the Transportation Engineering Sector. It is argued that there have been some major impediments to the rapid adoption of new computing technologies. Strategies for so doing should recognise these constraints. The first constraint is that transport facilities and vehicles have a much longer life than do products such as computers and computer software. The second constraint is that the pace of innovation is organisational rather than technical. Many transport services are provided by local government agencies that do not face competitive pressures to make major innovations. An example of the effects of these two constraints is provided by the use, by the City of Philadelphia, of decades old traffic signal controllers until only last year. Microbased systems which are much more economical have been available for years. Brief details are provided of new innovations including knowledge based systems and the Intelligent Vehicle/Highway System (IVHS). For the covering abstract see IRRD 861794.

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    BRUNEL - THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST LONDON

    UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX  United Kingdom 
  • Authors:
    • Hendrickson, C
  • Publication Date: 1993

Language

  • English

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00646778
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
  • ISBN: 1-872166-52-0
  • Files: ITRD
  • Created Date: May 17 1994 12:00AM