Initial Applications for Automated Vehicles on Exclusive Roadways

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Initial Applications for Automated Vehicles on
Exclusive Roadways
Advanced Transit Association Annual Technical
Meeting January 11, 2009 Washington, DC Robert
Johnson R. E. Johnson ConsultingRockville,
Marylandwww.REJConsult.com
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Examples ofSmall Automated Road Vehicles
CyberCab proposed by 2getthere which developed
the first public automated road vehicle
(ParkShuttle)
ULTra scheduled to begin service in 2009 at
Heathrow airport, London
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Alternative Interior Layouts and Service Concepts

• Typical PRT
• Two fixed seats
• Two fold-down seats
• Could have pure PRT or some sharing
• Automated Microbus
• Four fixed seats
• Two fold-down seats
• More suitable for shared operation

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Benefits of Exclusive Roadway

• Narrow -- 6 ft (1.8 m) or less wide
• Only need 6.5 ft (2.0 m ) vertical clearance
• Light duty construction
• Much safer without human drivers in other
  vehicles
• Much simpler control system

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Exclusive RoadwayElevated, At Grade, Under
Existing Bridge
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ULTra System at Heathrow Airport
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Stations and Interchanges

• Similar to to ULTra system connecting Heathrow
  Terminal 5 to parking lot, because...
• Decision makers are very conservative
• Heathrow design suitable for a number of
  applications

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In Example Applications, Stations are on Loop at
End of Two-Way Line
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Application Characteristics

• Small system -- 1 to 4 lane miles (2 to 6 lane km
  ) of guideway
• Extends some other mode
• Rail Transit system provides rail station access
• Airport provides landside circulation
• Auto congestion an issue, but...
• Low enough density in immediate area that space
  available for guideway
• Limited snow/ice, so can melt with guideway
  heating

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Applications in Suburban Washington, DC

• Montgomery College Connector -- College is next
  to heavy rail line, but between stations
• DANAC Station Connector -- Provides access to
  station on planned BRT or light rail system
• College Park Engineering Connector -- Serves
  existing heavy rail and planned BRT or light rail

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Space Under Route 1 Bridge May be Usablefor
Automated Vehicle Lanes
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Next Steps in Analyzing an Application

• Is guideway layout really feasible?
• Compute infrastructure cost
• Determine station-to-station (free flow) travel
  time and average wait time
• Find ridership by running existing 4-step model
  for area with automated system in place
• Determine fleet size, VMT, system costs, and
  benefit/cost ratio

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For more information about the applicationsshown
here and others, please seewww.AutoRoadVehicles
.com