Major Project

A
Major Project Report

On
“AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEM”
Submitted
In partial fulfillment
For the award of the Degree of
Bachelor of Technology
In
Civil Engineering
(2020-2021)
Submitted to:- Submitted by:-

Ms. Geetanjali Ganguly Ajay Kumar Dayma (17EAOCE002)
Head of Department Ajay Kumawat (17EAOCE003)
Department of Civil Engineering Arihant Verma (17EAOCE009)
Rakesh Prajapat (17EAOCE047)
4th year 8th sem
ARYA INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY &

MANAGEMENT
OMAXE CITY, AJMER ROAD, JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN
RAJASTHAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, KOTA
ARYA INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
CERTIFICATE
(Session 2020- 2021)
This is to certify that this report on “Automated Highway System” is submitted by Mr.
Ajay Kumar Dayma (17EAOCE002), Mr. Ajay Kumawat (17EAOCE003), Mr. Arihant
Verma (17EAOCE009), Mr. Rakesh Prajapat (17EAOCE047) a student of fourth year (8th
Sem.) B. Tech. in Civil Engineering in partial fulfillment for the award of degree of Bachelor
of Technology is a record of student’s work carried out and found satisfactory for
submission.
Ms. Geetanjali Ganguly Mr. Navneet Anand
Head of department Project Guide
Department of Civil Engineering Department of Civil Engineering
AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Arvind Agarwal, Chairman of Arya Group of
Colleges, for providing me such a great infrastructure and environment for my overall
development.
I express sincere thanks to Dr. Surendra Sharma, Director of Arya Group of Colleges, for
his kind cooperation and extendible support towards the completion of my project.
I express sincere thanks to Dr. Manoj Kumar, Registrar of AIETM, for his kind
cooperation and extendible support towards the completion of my project.
Words are inadequate in offering my thanks to Ms. Geetanjali Ganguly, Head of CE

Department, for consistent encouragement and support for shaping my project in the
presentable form.
I also express my deepest thanks to Mr. Navneet Anand , Project Coordinator, for his
support in providing technical requirement and fulfilling my various other requirements for
making my project success.
I also like to express my thanks to all supporting CE faculty members who have been a
constant source of encouragement for successful completion of the project.
Also my warm thanks to Arya Institute of Engineering Technology and Management,

who provided me this opportunity to carryout, this prestigious Project and enhance my
learning in various technical fields.
Sincerely
Ajay Kumar Dayma (17EAOCE002)
Ajay Kumawat (17EAOCE003)
Arihant Verma (17EAOCE009)
Rakesh Prajapat (17EAOCE047)
AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page iii

ABSTRACT
Automated highway system (AHS), which promises an increase in traffic capacity. The core
of this protocol to achieve a fully automated highway system is four-layer hierarchical
control architecture. Automated Highway System, abbreviated as AHS is newly developed
idea which uses different sensors and microprocessors for automatic design process. The
management and control of traffic system using roadside controllers and intelligent vehicles
is innovative technique for the design of highway system. The Automated Highway System is
the design concept introduced to enhance safety, efficiency and many other vehicular as well
as user characteristics of highways. This concept has introduced for the improved
architectural layout of highway design and also helped in reducing the environmental effects
of the vehicles running on the highways
Key Words: AHS Functional Evolution, Incremental Deployment, Reducing Accident

Rate, Smart Highway.
AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page iv

CONTENTS
TITLE Pg. No.
Certificate ii
Acknowledgement iii
Abstract iv
Content v
List of figures vii
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 2 : AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMS 3
2.1 MAJOR AHS GOALS 3
CHAPTER 3: EVOLUTION OF AHS 5
3.1. GOALS OF AHS 6
CHAPTER 4 : METHODOLOGY 8
4. 1. PROPOSED MODEL 8
CHAPTER 5 : THE SYSTEM CONCEPT AND TECHNOLOGIES 11
5.1 THE FIVE CONCEPT FAMILIES 11
5.2 CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES 12
CHAPTER 6 METHODOLOGY 13
CHAPTER 7 CONTROL DESIGN OF AN AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEM 15
7.1 THE FIVE LAYER THEORY 16
7.2 ON-BOARD VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM 17
7.3 ROADSIDE CONTROL SYSTEM
CHAPTER 8 COMPONENT AND FUNCTION OF AUTOMATED HIGHWAY
SYSTEM 18
8.1. LATERAL MOTION HANDLING
8.2. LONGITUDINAL MOTION HANDLING 19
8.3. OBSTACLE HANDLING
8.4. ETC (ELECTRONIC TOLL COLLECTION) 20
CHAPTER 9 : POTENTIAL BENEFITS 22
9.1.NEED AND NECESSITY
9.2.OBJECTIVES 23
CHAPTER 10 : SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES FOR
AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMS 24
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10.1 UNCLEAR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
10.1.1 CONGESTION AT ENTRY AND EXIT
10.1.2 UNCLEAR IMPACT ON LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENT
10.1.3 SAFETY 25
10.1.4 EQUITY
10.2. THE DILEMMA OF TRANSITION FROM CONVENTIONAL
HIGHWAY TO AUTOMATED HIGHWAY 26
10.3 PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE
10.4 INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES 27
10.4.1 FINANCE: WHO WILL PAY FOR AHS?
10.4.2 ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES
10.4.3 LIABILITY ISSUES 28
CHAPTER 11 VEHICLE PLATOONING 29
CHAPTER 12 TODAY’S PROBLEMS IN VEHICLE-HIGHWAY SYSTEM 32
12.1 VEHICLE CONTROL
12.2 LATERAL CONTROL 33
2.2 LONGITUDINAL CONTROL 34
2.3 COMBINED LATERAL AND LONGITUDINAL CONTROL 35
CHAPTER 13 : CONCLUSION 36
CHAPTER 14 : REFERERNCE(S) 37
AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page vi

LIST OF FIGURES Pg. No.
Figure 2.1 A concept drawing of an Automated Highway 4

System with dedicated lanes in the centre of the highway
Figure 3.1 Automated highway system with AHS 6

vehicle.
Figure 4.1 Block diagram of Vehicle speed detector using 8
Timer
Figure 7.1 The Control Design of an Automated Highway 16

System
Fig -8.1 Sensor for lateral motion 18
Fig -8.2 Sensor for longitudinal motion 19
Fig -8.3 Sensor for obstacle motion 20

Figure 11.1 A typical Vehicle Platoon experiment done in 29
San Diego, CA. The platoon demonstration was designed
by researchers at the California PATH.
Figure 11.2 Driverless Technology on display. 30
Figure 11.3 Tight coordination between vehicles. A scene

in San Diego, CA.
AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page vii

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The idea of automated driving dates back to almost 50 years ago when General
Motors (GM) presented a vision of ―driverless‖ vehicles under automated control at the
1939 World fairs in New York. In the 1950’s research by industrial organizations
conceptualized automated vehicles controlled by mechanical systems and radio controls.
After the first appearance of the computers in the 1960’s, researchers began to consider the
potential use of computers to provide lateral and longitudinal control and traffic management.
The fully automated highway concept was initially examined by GM with sponsorship from
the US department of Transportation (DOT) in the late1970’s. During these times, focus was
laid on automated vehicles on a highway as computers were not powerful enough to consider
a complete fully automated highway system.
Advances in the computing technologies, micro-electronics and sensors in the 1980’s

provoked commercial interest in the technologies that might enhance driver capability and
perception and both private and public researchers examined partially automated products
and services. Among others, the University of California Partners in Advanced Transport and
Highways (PATH) has carried out significant research and development in the field of
highway automation since the 1980’s. As various transportation technologies emerged that
could assist driving on one hand and also traffic efficiency on the other, interest in fully
automated driving or integrated auto highway technologies grew once again.
With the passage of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transport Efficiency Act (ISTEA),
efforts were on early prototype development and testing of fully automated vehicles and
highways. This act prompted the US DOT to develop the National Automated Highway
System Research Programme (NAHSRP), whose goal was to develop specifications for a
fully automated highway system concept that would support and stimulate the improvement
of vehicle and highway technologies.
In 1994, the US Department of Transportation launched the National Highway

System Consortium (NAHSC). The consortium consisted of nine major categories of
organization including academia, federal, state, regional and local government besides
representatives from vehicle, highway, electronics and communications industries. The
consortium believed in expanding the program’s expertise and resources, and maintained that
AIETM/20-/CE022 Page 1
the collaborative approach among the stakeholders would be critical in building the common
interest that would be required in the early development and deployment of fully automated
highway systems. Research continues to this day though it is largely sketchy owing to the
withdrawal of the financial support for the National Automated Highway Systems Research
Programme (NAHSRP) by the US Department of Transportation in the year 1997.
Many studies conducted by the National Automated Highway Systems Consortium

(NAHSC) continue in partial way with a couple of federal programmes like the Intelligent
Vehicle Initiative (IVI) with more focus on a nearer-term horizon.
An AHS can double or triple the efficiency of today's most congested highway lanes
while significantly increasing safety and trip quality. An AHS would serve all highway users,
opening up new opportunities for transit bus operation, enhancing the safety and productivity
of heavy trucks, and offering improved security and dependability to the traveling public. Its
efficiency can help reduce both fuel consumption and individual vehicle emissions, and will
ensure maximum use of our existing highway infrastructure investment.
CHAPTER 2
AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMS

The Automated Highway System (AHS) concept defines a new relationship between vehicles
and the highway infrastructure. AHS refers to a set of designated lanes on a limited access
roadway where specially equipped vehicles are operated under completely automatic control.
AHS uses vehicle and highway control technologies that shift driving functions from the
driver/operator to the vehicle. Throttle, steering, and braking are automatically controlled to
provide safer and more convenient travel.
AHS also uses communication, sensor and obstacle-detection technologies to

recognize and react to external infrastructure conditions. The vehicles and highway cooperate
to coordinate vehicle movement, avoid obstacles and improve traffic flow, improving safety
and reducing congestion. In sum, the AHS concept combines on-board vehicle intelligence
with a range of intelligent technologies installed onto existing highway infrastructure and
communication technologies that connect vehicles to highway infrastructure.
2.1 MAJOR AHS GOALS
The AHS program is designed to influence how and when vehicle-highway automation will
be introduced. AHS deployments will be tailored to meet the needs of public, commercial,
transit, and individual travellers in rural and urban communities.
The major goals are to:
1. Improve safety by significantly reducing:
• Fatalities.
• Personal injury.
• Pain and suffering.
• Anxiety and stress of driving.
2. Save money and optimize investment by:
• Maximizing efficiency of the existing infrastructure investment.

• Integrating other ITS services and architecture to achieve smooth traffic flow.
• Using available and near-term applied technology to avoid costs of conventional
highway build-out.
• Developing affordable equipment, vehicles, infrastructure, operations, maintenance,
and user fees.
• Closing the gap on predicted infrastructure needs.
• Using public/private partnerships for shared risk; using the National AHS Consortium
as a global focal point to influence foreign deployment efforts.
• Reducing fuel consumption and costs, maintenance, wear-and-tear, labor costs,
insurance costs, and property damage.
3. Improve accessibility and mobility by:
• Improving employee on-time performance, resulting in a more effective work force.

• Facilitating "just-in-time" deliveries.
• Improving public transportation service, increasing customer access, and expanding
service levels, resulting in increased revenue, reduced costs, and reduced accidents.
• Achieving a smooth traffic flow, reducing delays, travel times, and driver stress.
4. Improve environmental efficiencies by:
• Reducing emissions per vehicle-mile travelled.

• Providing a solid base for reliable, lower cost transit.
• Providing an efficient base for electric-powered vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles.
5. Create jobs by:
• Providing a stronger national economy and increasing global competitiveness.

• Increasing jobs in research and development and in early ITS deployment.
• Facilitating technology transfer (e.g., from military to civilian use).
Figure 2.1 – A concept drawing of an Automated Highway System with dedicated lanes in
the centre of the highway.
CHAPTER 3
EVOLUTION OF AHS
Evolution of the AHS system will continue with lane departure warning. It will be the first
system to control lateral movement of vehicles. The lane holding feature will consequently be
added to the adaptive cruise control, shortly after the lane departure warning feature.
Interesting thing is; automatic lane holding will provide a "hands off/feet off" driving
situation where the driver is still responsible for all command decisions in the vehicle and
must be aware at all times of his surroundings.
If the infrastructure knows the location of each vehicle, possesses the information
about its current path, and is communicating with the vehicle, then the lateral control can be
coordinated from the infrastructure. Further advances in technology will force the driver to
“lose” his control of the vehicle. In order to gain any additional benefit of safety and
efficiency, the driver must be removed as the primary source of command and control. Of
course, this change requires that the automated system perform better than a good driver.
This step will be the natural consequence of the previous progress. Obviously, not all
vehicles will be equipped with this technology right away. Automated and manually driven
vehicles have to coexist for some time.
A vehicle that can “predict” the actions of neighboring vehicles is an important step
for safer highway transportation. Locating the position of all the vehicles in close proximity
to the automated vehicle with high accuracy is essential. This can be accomplished through
multi-sensor systems for adjacent vehicles and possibly inter-vehicle communications to give
an idea of what to expect beyond adjacent vehicles. Alternatively, the “roadside control” may
have knowledge of the positions of the vehicles relative to fixed reference points.
This knowledge is obtained by either vehicle based or roadside based detection,

and/or by communicating with the vehicle. This technology requires extreme accuracy in
vehicle location at all times. If the system is infrastructure-based, the infrastructure needs to
know the locations of the non- automated vehicles, for safe and efficient implementation. The
minimum update rate of information must be larger than 100 times per second with accuracy
less than 10 cm for the desired level of safety.
Automated vehicle control (AVC) systems are expected to boost the capacity by 50%
even for mixed vehicle traffic. Once the system has knowledge of the surrounding
environment to all extents, it can make decisions on merging and passing in addition to the
headway control and lane keeping performed under driver control. Full system optimization
and higher efficiencies can then be obtained as the percentage of automated vehicles on the
road increases.
Figure 3.1: Automated highway system with AHS vehicle
3.1. GOALS OF AHS
1. Enhancement of surface transportation efficiency.
2. Achievement of national transportation safety goals.
3. Protection and enhancement of the natural environment and communities affected by

surface transportation.
4. Accommodation of the needs of all users of surface transportation systems.
5. Improvement of the Nation’s ability to respond to emergencies and natural disasters.
❖ AHS is designed to cover the following characteristics:-
1. Affordability: The AHS must be affordable and cost-effective to users and operators.
2. User Desirability: The AHS must be practical, desirable, and user-friendly.
3. Consistency with Surrounding Non-AHS Roadways: AHS operation must integrate

with adjacent connecting non-automated traffic operations, and be consistent with the
continued efficient operation of those roadways.
4. Dual-Mode Vehicle Instrumentation: Only vehicles instrumented for and operating

under full automated control will operate on AHS roadways. AHS-instrumented vehicles will
be able to operate on regular (non-instrumented) roadways, and use some of the AHS
instrumentation for safer operation including collision avoidance. A design goal is that it be
possible to retrofit future vehicle models with AHS instrumentation.
5. Reliable, Modular System Technology: The AHS must be highly reliable and modular to
accommodate continuing advances in technology.
6. Evolvability: The AHS will not be a standalone system; it will evolve from and integrate
with today’s vehicle-highway system, and other transportation services; the driver’s role will
evolve as AHS evolves.
7. Support for Various Vehicle Types: The AHS will support all normal vehicle types,
including cars, buses, and trucks, although not necessarily intermixed.
8. Freeway Type of Roadway: In general, an AHS roadway is expected to have freeway

characteristics.
CHAPTER 4
METHODOLOGY
As a driver electing to use such an automated highway might first pass through a validation
lane, similar to today's high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) or carpooling lanes. The system
would then determine if the car will function correctly in an automated mode, establish its
destination, and deduct any tolls from the driver's credit account. Improperly operating
vehicles would be diverted to manual lanes.
The driver would then steer into a merging area, and the car would be guided through
a gate onto an automated lane. An automatic control system would coordinate the movement
of newly entering and existing traffic. Once travelling in automated mode, the driver could
relax until the turnoff. The reverse process would take the vehicle off the highway. At this
point, the system would need to check whether the driver could retake control, then take
appropriate action if the driver were asleep, sick, or even dead.
The alternative to this kind of dedicated lane system is a mixed traffic system, in
which automated and non-automated vehicles would share the roadway. This approach
requires more-extensive modifications to the highway infrastructure, but would provide the
biggest payoff in terms of capacity increase.
In fact, a spectrum of approaches can be envisioned for highway automation systems

in which the degree of each vehicle's autonomy varies. On one end of the range would be
fully independent or "free-agent" vehicles with their own proximity sensors that would enable
vehicles to stop safely even if the vehicle ahead were to apply the brakes suddenly. In the
middle would be vehicles that could adapt to various levels of cooperation with other vehicles
(platooning). At the other end would be systems that rely to a lesser or greater degree on the
highway infrastructure for automated support. In general, however, most of the technology
4. 1. PROPOSED MODEL
In this section, we have designed a highway speed checker circuit to detect the rash driving
using different electronic components such as timer, counter, logic gates, seven segment
display and all other components. It shows the typical block diagram of speed checker to
detect rash driving on highways using a Timer which consists of sensor module, logical
module, power supply, sound detector and display module. Further logical module comprises
timers, NAND gates and decade counters.
Figure 4.1. Block diagram of Vehicle speed detector using Timer
A photodiode used as sensor is a type of photo detector capable of converting light into either
current or voltage, depending upon the mode of operation. Photodiodes are similar to regular
semiconductor diodes except that they may be either exposed (to detect vacuum UV or X-
rays) or packaged with a window or optical fibre connection to allow light to reach the
sensitive part of the device.
Many diodes designed for use specifically as a photodiode will also use a PIN
junction rather than the typical PN junction. When a photon of sufficient energy strikes the
diode, it excites an electron, thereby creating a mobile electron and a positively charged
electron hole. If the absorption occurs in the junction's depletion region, or one diffusion
length away from it, these carriers are swept from the junction by the built in field of the
depletion region.
Thus holes move toward the anode, and electrons toward the cathode, and a
photocurrent is produced which goes to the Timer. In this case, we use 555 Timer IC which is
an integrated circuit (chip) implementing a variety of timer and multi-vibrator applications.
The 555 has three operating modes: Monostable mode: in this mode, the 555 functions as a
"one-shot". Applications include timers, missing pulse detection, bounce free switches, touch
switches, frequency divider, capacitance measurement, pulse-width modulation (PWM) etc.
Astable - free running mode: the 555 can operate as an oscillator. Uses include LED
and lamp flashers, pulse generation, logic clocks, tone generation, security alarms, pulse
position modulation, etc. Bistable mode or Schmitt trigger: the 555 can operate as a flip-flop,
if the DIS pin is not connected and no capacitor is used. Uses include bounce free latched
switches, etc. The circuit uses standard power supply comprising of a step-down transformer
from 230v to 12v and four diodes forming a bridge rectifier that delivers pulsating dc which
is then filtered by an electrolytic capacitor of 1000μf.
The filtered dc being unregulated IC LM7812 is used to get 12v constant output at its
pin no 3 irrespective of input dc varying from 9v to 14v. The input dc shall be varying in the
event of input ac at 230volts section varies in the ratio of v1/v2=n1/n2. The regulated 12volts
dc is further filtered by a small electrolytic capacitor of 0.1 μf for any noise so generated by
the circuit. This is used as the supply for different ICs in the circuit. A buzzer or beeper is an
audio signaling device, which may be driven by an oscillating electronic circuit or other
audio signal source, driven with a piezoelectric audio amplifier.
Sounds commonly used to indicate that a button has been pressed are a click, a ring or
a beep. Here, piezo-buzzer sounds an alarm if the vehicle crosses the distance between the IR
Diode set-ups at more than the selected speed. Fig. 3 shows the theory of buzzer so as to emit
the sound.
CHAPTER 5
THE SYSTEM CONCEPT AND TECHNOLOGIES

Concepts of Automated Highway System (AHS) can be classified into two groups, partially
automated systems and fully automated systems, depending on the extent of the automation.
Partially automated systems include notification and warning systems, temporary emergency
controls and continuous partial controls, which take limited control of the vehicle in
emergency situations. They automate certain routine parts of driving but rely on manual
control for most driving functions. Fully automated driving would let drivers be totally
disengaged from all driving tasks.
5.1 THE FIVE CONCEPT FAMILIES
• Independent Vehicle Concept:

This concept puts a smart vehicle in the existing infrastructure. In-vehicle technology lets the
vehicle operate automatically with on-board sensors and computers. The vehicle can use data
from roadside systems but does not depend on infrastructure support.
• Cooperative Concept:
This concept lets smart vehicles communicate with each other, although not with the
infrastructure. With on-board radar, vision, and other sensors, these AHS-equipped vehicles
will be able to communicate with each other and coordinate their driving operations, thereby
achieving best throughput and safety.
• Infrastructure-Supported Concept:
A smart infrastructure can greatly improve the quality of AHS services and better integrate
AHS with local transportation networks. This concept envisions automated vehicles in
dedicated lanes using global information and two-way communication with the smart
infrastructure to support vehicle decision-making and operation.
• Infrastructure-Assisted Concept:
In this concept, the automated roadside system provides inter-vehicle coordination during
entry, exit, merging, and emergencies. This concept may provide the greatest throughput
benefit; it also may require the greatest civil infrastructure investment.
• Adaptable Concept:
This concept acknowledges the fact that AHS implementation will vary by locality. It
envisions the development of a wide range of compatible standards that leave as many of the
specific architecture decisions, solutions, and deployment progressions as possible to area
stakeholders. The National Automated Highway System Consortium (NAHSC) defined
several alternative AHS concepts, from cooperative to fully automated, depending on the
degree to which vehicles and infrastructure work together as listed above.
5.2 CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES
While current vehicles use new technologies mostly for safety or driver convenience, e.g., air
bags, antilock brakes, adaptive cruise control, power steering, the vehicles on an AHS system
would require much more new technology that communicates with the roadway. In the
simplest forms of AHS these would focus on the detection of other vehicles and obstacles.
Technologies that already do this to some extent are beginning to be added to luxury
vehicles or are sometimes an option that can be selected by the consumer; e.g., collision
warning systems. Other technologies that would be precursors to the communications
technologies in an AHS system are also being introduced; these include navigation assistance
systems, traveler information systems, and vehicle locator systems.
CHAPTER 6
METHODOLOGY
The AHS will consist of at least two major subsystems: the vehicles and an infrastructure.
The vehicle subsystem will contain the portion of the system that actually moves along an
AHS. The vehicle subsystem includes sensors, data processing, actuator, linkage, and
communications equipment. The AHS will automate the following driver functions to control
vehicle movement.
AHS Entry: The system will enter vehicles onto the automated highway with simultaneous
speed adjustment between several vehicles to successfully merge vehicles.
AHS Exit: The system will move vehicles from the AHS lane and will return control of the
vehicle to the driver after ensuring that the driver is prepared to safely operate the vehicle.
Object Detection and Collision Warning! Avoidance: The system will detect moving and
stationary objects on the automated lanes and will avoid collisions with these objects.
Longitudinal Vehicle Control: The system will adjust the vehicle speed, both to maintain a
safe overall speed (as influenced by environmental conditions), and the appropriate
longitudinal distance between vehicles.
Lateral Vehicle Control: The system will steer the vehicle by sensing the lane boundaries or
lane centers of the automated lane and control vehicle steering to keep the vehicle in the lane,
coordinating lane changes and entry/exit maneuvers.
Navigation: The system will track the vehicle's position on the highway network to ensure
that the vehicle leaves the system at the driver's desired exit or guide the vehicle to another
exit of the desired exit becomes unavailable.
Maneuver Coordination: Using the vehicle's absolute or relative position on the highway
with communication between vehicles, the system will coordinate vehicle maneuvers. The
infrastructure subsystem will contain all other aspects of the AHS not found in the vehicle.
This includes, but is not limited to, communications equipment, roadways, control centers,
sensors, and operations and maintenance facilities. The AHS will not be a standalone system.
It will be developed and integrated with other transportation systems. It will supplement
existing vehicle highway systems for state and Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)
transportation planners and other policy makers. It will allow safer, more efficient, and cost
effective highways to be designed while still meeting a region's environmental guidelines and
societal goals. An AHS will support varying modes of transportation, but not limited to, local
and trunk. Line transit services, commercial truck and taxi services, and shuttle services to
major trip generators such as airports and commercial centers. All of the improved
conveniences in the flow of information as a result of ITS technologies will be incorporated.
In addition, AHS will provide faster transit and more reliable guide ways on which to
operate. Users will not only be better informed of available service, but more attracted to
faster, more reliable, and more direct service. Travelers as well as commercial users will find
many new important ways to facilitate their activities.
In one scheme, the roadway has magnetized stainless-steel spikes, driven one meter apart
from its center. The car senses the spikes to measure its speed and locate the center of the
lane. Furthermore, the spikes can have either magnetic north or magnetic south facing up.
The roadway thus provides small amounts of digital data describing interchanges,
recommended speeds, etc.
The cars have power steering and automatic speed controls, which are controlled by a
computer. The cars organize themselves into platoons of eight to twenty-five cars. The
platoons drive themselves a meter apart, so that air resistance is minimized. The distance
between platoons is the conventional braking distance. If anything goes wrong, the maximum
number of harmed cars should be one platoon.
CHAPTER 7
CONTROL DESIGN OF AN AUTOMATED
HIGHWAY SYSTEM
The Control design of an Automated Highway system can be looked upon the basis of
a 5 layer theory which together comprise the two systems viz. the Onboard Vehicle System
and the Roadside System. The control design is explained with the aid of the figure 4.1:
7.1 THE FIVE LAYER THEORY
The physical layer comprises all the on-board vehicle controllers of the physical
components of a vehicle. These include the engine and transmission, brake and steering
control systems, as well as the different lateral and longitudinal vehicle guidance and range
sensors. The main function of the physical layer is to decouple the longitudinal and lateral
vehicle guidance control and to approximately linearize the physical layer dynamics.
The regulation layer is responsible for the longitudinal and lateral guidance of the
vehicle, and the execution of the manoeuvres ordered by the coordination layer. The
regulation layer must carry out two longitudinal control tasks.
The first task is that of a vehicle follower in a platoon and consists in maintaining a
prescribed constant spacing from the preceding vehicle. The second task is that of a platoon
leader or free agent and consists in safely and efficiently executing a manoeuvre commanded
by the coordination layer.
The coordination layer is responsible for selecting the activity that the vehicle should
attempt or continue to execute, in order to realize its currently assigned activity plan. It
communicates and coordinates its actions with its peers—the coordination layers of
neighboujring vehicles—and supervises and commands the regulation layer to execute or
abort manoeuvres. It also communicates with the link layer roadside control system, from
which it periodically receives an updated activity plan.
There is one link layer controller for each 0.5 to 5 km-long segment of the highway,
called a link. Its task is to control the traffic flow within the link so as to attain its full
capacity and minimize vehicle travel time and undesirable transient phenomena, such as
congestion. A link is itself subdivided in sections, one per lane. A link receives and
discharges traffic flow from and to neighbouring links, as well as AHS entrances and exits.
The controller measures aggregated vehicle densities in each of the link’s sections. These
densities are specific to vehicle type, including origin and destination, and whether the
vehicle is a platoon leader, follower or is changing lanes. It broadcasts commands in the form
of a specific activity plan for each vehicle type and section, to the vehicle coordination layer
controllers.
Figure 7.1 – The Control Design of an Automated Highway System
The link layer controller receives commands from the network layer in the form of demands
on the inlet traffic flows at the AHS entrances, and outlet flow constraints at the AHS exits,
as well as desired inlet-to-outlet traffic flow split ratios, in case a vehicle can take more than
one route to each the same destination, while travelling in that highway link,
The task of the network layer is to control entering traffic and route traffic flow within the
network of highway links that constitute the AHS, in order to optimize the capacity and
average vehicle travel time of the AHS and minimize transient congestion in any of its
highway links.
7.2 ON-BOARD VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM
The overall on-board vehicle control system comprises the control systems for the
coordination, regulation, and physical layers. Its primary objective is to safely control the
vehicle while efficiently executing its activity plan. By ―safely‖ it is meant that the vehicle
should not collide under normal circumstances, in the absence of major hardware
malfunction. By ―efficiently‖ it is meant that the vehicle should complete the manoeuvres in
its activity plan in a manner that tends to optimize the capacity and traffic flow of the AHS.
This involves completing manoeuvres, such as join, split or change lane in the minimum
possible time, and performing platoon follower and leader laws while maintaining as high a
speed and as small a distance from the preceding vehicle as practicable.
However, since the on-board vehicle control system does not have the overall AHS
capacity and traffic flow information, overall AHS optimality is not monitored or guaranteed
at this layer
7.3 ROADSIDE CONTROL SYSTEM
The roadside control system’s primary objective is to optimize the capacity and traffic flow
of the overall AHS. The models used in the link layer involve aggregated vehicle densities
and traffic flows but not individual vehicles. Thus, vehicle safety, as defined in Section3,
cannot be monitored, much less enforced. The roadside control system can control the
network and link layers in ways that tend to increase vehicle safety, such as maintaining
sufficiently low aggregated vehicle densities and decreasing the inlet traffic flow into links.
CHAPTER 8
COMPONENT AND FUNCTION OF AUTOMATED
HIGHWAY SYSTEM
The component and function presents the evolution of vehicle automation capabilities in
terms of lateral motion handling, longitudinal motion handling, and obstacle handling.
8.1. LATERAL MOTION HANDLING
The lateral (side-to-side) motion of the vehicle has a number of different functions, from
vehicle-centric maneuvers such as lane keeping to those involving merging in heavy traffic.
First, if the vehicle is to stay within the lane, it needs to know where the lane boundaries are
lane detection is currently achieved through a number of different technologies, including a
vision system, magnetic nails buried in the roadway which are then sensed by the vehicle, or
a radar-reflective stripe.
Fig -8.1: Sensor for lateral motion
Simple lane changing is the ability of the vehicle to move smoothly out of one lane and into
another in light traffic conditions. The technical requirements for such a system include side-
looking sensors that detect a gap, and the ability to cross between adjacent lanes and begin
lane keeping in the new lane. Such a system could be considered “simple” if it changes lanes
only in the absence of nearby vehicles, thus being assured of no risk of collision during the
lane changing operation. Simple lane changing requires elementary, side looking vehicle
detection
8.2. LONGITUDINAL MOTION HANDLING
The longitudinal (front-to-back) motion of the vehicle also has a variety of functions which
range from simplistic in vehicle handling to tactical driving within a congested traffic scene.
Speed keeping is the most elementary function within this category, involving the
maintenance of a constant travel speed. It is widely deployed in the for of “cruise control.”
Headway keeping, also known as adaptive cruise control is a function which adapts the speed
of the vehicle to match that of a lead vehicle while maintaining a safe distance.
Headway keeping is currently being deployed on a limited scale in foreign markets.

Headway keeping, like all of the advanced functions in this category, depends upon reliable
vehicle detection & vehicle motion detection. This is the ability to ascertain fundamental
information about surrounding vehicles and their behavior. This capability will likely evolve
from simple look-ahead functions to include look-behind and look-to-the-side as well.
The term “look” is used loosely in this context, and refers to an ability to obtain
information about surrounding areas in a particular direction. It does not mean to imply that
vision-based systems must necessarily be used; indeed radar, ladder, and sonar systems may
prove far more useful than vision systems, especially in reduced visibility situations such as
rain and fog. Given the ability to detect vehicle and vehicle motion, longitudinal collision
warning becomes possible.
Fig -8.2: Sensor for longitudinal motion
8.3. OBSTACLE HANDLING
Obstacle avoidance capabilities reduce or eliminate safety hazards caused by

obstacles on the automated highway system. This includes rocks, vegetation, dropped vehicle
parts, disabled vehicles and animals. Obstacle detection and threat determination is a much
more difficult task than vehicle detection due to the technical difficulties of sensing obstacles
and identifying whether those obstacles present a threat. For determine the obstacle radar and
sonar systems may be used.
One way to reduce the need for obstacle avoidance is to implement obstacle
exclusion. To a limited degree this is already deployed with fencing and highway department
maintenance of the interstate highway system. Obstacle exclusion can significantly reduce the
frequency of obstacles on the roadway, but it seems implausible that any exclusion method
can be effective.
Fig -8.3.: Sensor for obstacle motion
Obstacle motion detection & prediction may be a particularly difficult capability to develop.
Unlike vehicles, which are physically constrained in realizable maneuvers, obstacles may not
behave in readily predictable ways. Animals may run into the road and stop abruptly. Loose
tires can bounce randomly, depending on road surface, tire wear, and angle of incidence.
That obstacle motion prediction can be achieved; the vehicle can achieve avoidance
via lane change. This becomes a unique capability that depends heavily on good prediction,
not only of the motion of the obstacle, but also of how other vehicles will react to that
obstacle.
8.4. ETC (ELECTRONIC TOLL COLLECTION)
The Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System is a new toll system designed to enhance
convenience for drivers by enabling cashless toll collection and thus reducing congestion at
High-way tollgates. ETC toll collection is a technology enabling the electronic collection of
toll payment. It has been studied by researchers and applied in various highways, bridges, and
tunnel requiring such a process.
This system can determine if the car is registered or not, and then informing the
authorities of toll payment violation, debits and participating accounts. The most advantage
of thistechnology is the opportunity to eliminate congestion in toll booths, especially during
festive seasons when traffic trends to be heavier than normal. Other general advantages for
the motorists include fuel savings and reduced mobile emissions by reducing or eliminating
deceleration, waiting time, and acceleration.
CHAPTER 9
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Researchers have attempted to estimate benefits that might accrue from the implementation
of automated highway systems. Table 2 summarizes potential benefits. Many of the benefits
shown in the table are fairly speculative; the systems they would depend upon are not yet in
existence and there is no clear evidence that the system can produce the following benefits in
reality.
It is anticipated that automated highway and related advanced vehicle control and
safety technologies would significantly reduce traffic congestion and enhance safety in
highway driving. This in turn would potentially cut travel time, and therefore, driving would
be more predictable and reliable.
The Mobility 2000 report, sponsored by the Texas Transportation Institute, projected
that collision prevention systems could reduce accidents by 70 percent or 90 percent on fully
automated highways. Research focused on collision prevention systems has estimated
possible savings in a relatively short period of time.
For example, collision avoidance systems have been estimated to have the potential to
reduce annual loss of life on U.S. roads by 50 percent by 2020. In addition, preliminary
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates show that rear-ends, lane-change,
and roadway-departure crash-avoidance systems have the potential to reduce crashes by one-
sixth, or about 1.2 million crashes a year.
9.1.NEED AND NECESSITY
• Improvement safety by significantly reducing fatalities, personal injuries, pain and

suffering, anxiety and stress of driving.
• Improvement in accessibility and mobility for reducing delays, smooth flow of traffic,
making driving more accessible to less able to drivers.
• Ensuring exchange of road and route data as well as other information between the
respective transport information centers and the traffic control in different regions and
different states.
• Taking measures required for automated highway systems associated with safety into
vehicles and traffic infrastructure as well as ensuring the elaboration of interaction as to
safety in person machine terms.
• Development of alert systems for passengers and road users, development of traffic
demand control systems in urban and rural region.
• Fuel consumption and polluting emissions might be reduced by smoothing traffic flow and
running vehicles close enough to each other to benefit from aerodynamic drafting.
9.2.OBJECTIVES
• Introduce new tools for managing urban transport. Automated highway system will
develop tools that can help cities to cross the thresholds that are preventing them from
introducing innovative systems.
• Studies will be carried out to show that an automated transport system is not only feasible,
but will also contribute to a sustainable solution for the city’s mobility problems, now and
in the future.
• To study the effect of Traffic volume, Capacity, Road feature, Surface properties on
accident rate on highway road.
• To study the defects on highway and annual, monthly accidents rates on the selected
highway road.
• To survey and document automated highway system with driver and passenger safety
systems on roads.
• The reliable intelligent driver assistance systems and safety warning systems is still a long
way to go.
• To study eliminate the more than ninety percent of traffic crashes that are caused by
human errors such as misjudgments and in-attention.
CHAPTER 10
SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES FOR
AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMS

The introduction of new technologies often creates social tensions. For instance, although
talking on the phone while walking. or driving is commonplace nowadays, there are concerns
about its safety, and debates continue over whether it is rude to use a cell phone in public
places such as restaurants or on a bus. Similarly, mature technologies experienced social
challenges when they were introduced. The first automobiles were seen as rich people’s toys,
and former President Woodrow Wilson, then head of Princeton College, warned students
about showing off their vehicles before the townsfolk, who he presumed would never have
cars.
The programs to achieve the transportation improvement through new technologies

likewise face social and institutional challenges. For automated highway systems the
challenges include concerns about land use and environmental impacts, effects on people’s
mobility if they are unable to afford or use the new technologies, effects on local
government-owned transportation systems, and impacts on financing systems. These impacts
will be discussed here. .
10.1 UNCLEAR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
One of the critical problems for the automated highway system development is that the
impact of AHS on society and environment is unclear yet. Studies necessarily must be
speculative since the system has not yet been implemented apart from the San Diego
demonstration project. The following topics are ones that have generated considerable
disagreement.
10.1.1 CONGESTION AT ENTRY AND EXIT
There is concern that if AHS are implemented the greater numbers of vehicles on an
automated highway could create bottlenecks at its entry and exit points as more traffic
reenters non-automated streets. This might offset most of the benefits of the traffic flow
improvement on the automated highways. The U.S. DOT acknowledged that it was a serious
concern to design an interchange that can integrate with surrounding non-AHS roads to ease
the problem.
10.1.2 UNCLEAR IMPACT ON LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENT
There are concerns that commuters might live farther from the work place, because an
automated highway system promises to increase the accessibility of more distant locations
through higher freeway speeds. Therefore, it possibly encourages urban sprawl and greater
dependence on the automobile. The concern about land use pattern and urban development
raises also the serious question on the AHS’s positive role regarding air quality, noise, etc.
If more vehicles were accommodated at faster speeds on a fully automated highway,

vehicle emissions might increase and degrade air quality, as AHS might encourage more
Vehicle Mile Traveled (VMT). This conflicting result may provoke the fundamental question
of whether or not automated highway system is much more efficient, comparing to traditional
highway or other transportation modes such as light rail and high-speed rail.
10.1.3 SAFETY
Some argue that it is uncertain how Automated Highway Systems impact on overall highway
safety, because the failure of a vehicle’s braking or steering system could severely disrupt the
highway traffic flow and cause a chain reaction accident. In addition, there are remaining
questions: What level of safety is attainable and sustainable within a realistic cost? How
much safety equipment can be required and still achieve public acceptance? How efficient
can the system be if safety requirements are set at extremely high levels? The trade-offs
between the technology level, cost, and the safety level have not been addressed yet.
10.1.4 EQUITY
Since tremendous amounts of public funds could be spent to deploy an automated highway
system, social equity issues must be addressed. A key question is whether it would be fair and
politically feasible to dedicate travel lanes to automated vehicles, and spend public funds, if
many low-income motorists cannot afford automated vehicles.
Studies have not addressed specific issues of whether and how state and federal
government might provide incentives to commercialize automated vehicles, how the system
should be financed (e.g. toll system/ other sources), and how equity concerns could be
reduced. There also may be different equity issues involved with different vehicle users.
10.2. THE DILEMMA OF TRANSITION FROM CONVENTIONAL
HIGHWAY TO AUTOMATED HIGHWAY
There has been a debate between those who favor an evolutionary deployment of automated
high systems and those who promote full-scale conversion of regional highways to the
system. Some researchers involved in the National Automated Highway System Research
Program believed that a regional conversion strategy would be a more effective way to
implement a fully automated system.
The argument is that the evolutionary approach would be neither easy nor efficient
since many drivers will not invest in such basic technologies as adaptive cruise control and
lane-keeping technologies. It was recommended that at least one lane of a regional highway
should be converted to an AHS-equipped corridor so that initial users can fully benefit from
the system. In addition, to demonstrate the benefits, government vehicles and transit vehicles
would be converted first to automated vehicles.
Others argued for gradual implementation, believing that there would be inadequate
justification to convert or build highway lanes with full automation with public funds if only
a few vehicles, mostly owned by the affluent, would be able to use the system in its initial
years. This side also argued that even the vehicle owners who can pay for automation
technologies may not be willing to equip their cars with this technology, if only one or a few
corridors have highway lanes equipped for AHS use. Thus, the suggestion was that, as an
evolutionary approach, focus should be placed on market penetration of near-term advanced
vehicle control and safety technologies.
After the U.S. DOT’s decision was made to withdraw from the National Automated
Highway System Research Program, AHS research has mostly followed the evolutionary
model. Today, many efforts are being made to develop and commercialize the basic AHS-
related technologies such as adaptive cruise control and collision-warning features.
10.3 PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE
For AHS to obtain public acceptance, it must be designed and implemented with many
complex human factors and operational reliability considerations. The decision on which
vehicle controls are automated and how these systems interface with the driver will affect
seriously system safety and the level of public acceptance. In addition, the extent to which
motorists would accept reduced manual control of their vehicles of be willing to travel in
automated vehicles at close following distances, on narrower lanes, and at higher speeds is
not clear yet. Full automation of the nation’s road cannot be attained in a day, until a careful
review as to human response and system safety, and market analysis on potential users can be
successfully addressed. User fears, inertia, and distrust on new technology are typically too
strong to be eliminated without gradual and systematic implementation strategies.
10.4 INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
The vision of deployment of local and regional automated highways requires the public
sector to consider the issue of institutionalization of automated highway systems. Successful
institutionalization would reduce potential political and economic conflicts and would specify
the roles and responsibilities of each public and private actor. Key institutional issues include
finance, regulation, and organization.
10.4.1 FINANCE: WHO WILL PAY FOR AHS?
U.S. DOT’s 1996 report identified several issues concerning the finance of automated
highways, but these issues have not been discussed actively since the U.S. DOT withdrew its
financial support for the long-term research on AHS. Yet, it is worth summarizing the
significant issues in the following:
• The main ways to cover automated highway system costs and the cost structuring.
• The priority to be given to investment in normal highways v/s. automated highways.
• The rights and privileges that the operating entity can have.
A principal dilemma is that, given limited financial resources and a backlog of needed
investments in conventional traditional transportation projects, AHS deployment is likely to
be limited for the next decade or more, unless alternative funding sources are found.
In many urban areas, maintenance alone absorbs the majority of available funds, and
transportation agencies are left with little funding to use on new projects of any sort. This
suggests that either new funding source would need to be found or else the benefits of AHS
would have to be so convincing that transportation officials would put AHS projects ahead of
other desired transportation investments.
10.4.2 ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES
Many operational issues can arise in considering the role of state and local
government in building and operating highways. The AHS will include technically complex
components such as advanced electronic sensors, on-line computers and software, and
communication systems. Installation and maintenance of these systems may present a
significant challenge to the operators. Since AHS will introduce an increased level of
complexity for highway operations, the following issues should be addressed:
• The ability of state and local transportation agencies to build, operate and maintain the
sophisticated networks of automated highway; changes that might be needed in personnel
hiring practices, pay scales, etc.
• The capability of state and local jurisdictions to work together effectively in planning and
operating AHS .
• The regional institutional integration to support the efficient operation of AHS.
• The training of technical staff to deal with the system .
• The structure of ownership of facility (public or private) .
• Responsibility for standard-setting for new equipment and operations.
10.4.3 LIABILITY ISSUES
Presently, the primary burden of the cost of vehicle accidents rests with the drivers and the
owners of the vehicles, because most of highway collisions are due to driver error. However,
the increased automation resulting from the adoption of certain automated highway
technologies could shift liability to the developers and operators of automated systems. Thus
a major issue concerns the resolution of who is to be responsible for accidents on automated
highway systems: the non-driving driver, the auto-highway authority, or the auto
manufacturer.
CHAPTER 11
VEHICLE PLATOONING
The eight-vehicle platoon demonstration at the National Automated Highway Systems
Consortium Technical Feasibility Demonstration, held in San Diego from August 7-10, 1997,
shown in figure 7.1, successfully demonstrated the technical feasibility of operating standard
automobiles – Buick LeSabres– under precise automatic control at close spacings, at highway
speeds. Riders experienced real travel in a fully automated AHS vehicle, and were shown that
comfortable, high-capacity, automated travel is technically feasible in the near future.
Figure 11.1 – A typical Vehicle Platoon experiment done in San Diego, CA. The platoon
demonstration was designed by researchers at the California PATH
program to show how vehicle automation technology can be used to make a major
contribution to relieving traffic congestion. The eight Buicks operating in tight coordination
showed how an automated highway system can provide a significant increase in highway
throughput (vehicles per lane per hour moving along the highway).
Since platooning enables vehicles to operate much closer together than is possible
under manual driving conditions, each lane can carry at least twice as much traffic as it can
today. This should make it possible to greatly reduce highway congestion. Also, at close
spacing aerodynamic drag is significantly reduced which can lead to major reductions in fuel
consumption and exhaust emissions. The high performance vehicle control system also
increases the safety of highway travel, reduces driving stress and tedium, and provides a very
smooth ride.
Figure 11.2 – Driverless Technology on display.
At Demo ’97, as shown in figure 11.2, the eight vehicles of the PATH platoon travelled at a
fixed separation distance of 6.5 meters (21 feet) at all speeds up to full highway speed. At this
spacing, eight-vehicle platoons separated by a safe interplatoon gap of 60 m (about 200 ft.)
and travelling at 65 mph would represent a ―pipeline‖ capacity of about 5700 vehicles per
hour.
Reducing this by 25% to allow for the manoeuvring needed at entry and exit points
corresponds to an effective throughput of about 4300 vehicles per lane per hour. Throughput
under normal manual driving conditions at this speed would be approximately 2000 vehicles
per lane per hour.
Such short spacing between vehicles can produce a significant reduction in
aerodynamic drag for all of the vehicles (leader as well as followers). These drag reductions
are moderate at the 6.5-meter spacing of the Demo, but become more dramatic at spacings of
half that length. Wind-tunnel tests at the University of Southern California have shown that
the drag force can be cut in half when vehicles operate at a separation of about half a vehicle
length.
Analyses at UC Riverside have shown how that drag reduction translates into
improvements of 20 to 25% in fuel economy and emissions reductions. The tight
coordination of vehicle manoeuvring is achieved by combining range information from
forward-looking radar with information from a radio communication system that provides
vehicle speed and acceleration updates 50 times per second. This means that the vehicles can
respond to changes in the motions of the vehicles ahead of them much more quickly than
human drivers.
As a result, the space between the vehicles is so close to constant that variations are
imperceptible to the driver and passengers, producing the illusion of a mechanical coupling
between the vehicles as shown in figure 11.3.
Figure 11.3 – Tight coordination between vehicles. A scene in San Diego, CA.
The vehicle-vehicle communication capability is used to coordinate manoeuvring. These

manoeuvres include lane changing, in which a vehicle safely coordinates its lane change with
adjacent vehicles, so that they do not try to occupy the same place at the same time, and
platoon join and split manoeuvres — decreasing the space between vehicles to form a platoon
and increasing the space to separate from a platoon.
Tight coordination among vehicles also facilitates responses to malfunctions, enabling
all vehicles in a platoon to learn about a malfunction within a fraction of a second, so that
they can respond accordingly. The vehicles are equipped with malfunction management
software, to automatically implement such corrective actions as increasing the separation
between vehicles while warning the drivers.
The control system has also been designed with careful attention to passenger ride
quality. Both the lateral (steering) and longitudinal (speed and spacing) control systems have
been designed, tested, and proven to have higher performance than even highly skilled human
drivers. The lateral control system keeps the vehicle to within a few inches of the lane center
under virtually all conditions, which is much more accurate than human drivers’ steering. The
longitudinal control system maintains speed and spacing accuracy that exceeds that of all but
virtuoso race-car drivers.
CHAPTER 12
TODAY’S PROBLEMS IN VEHICLE-HIGHWAY SYSTEM

The vehicle-highway system must continue to be improved for the foreseeable future. The
system must be able to address a number of problem areas; many of today’s transportation
problems will continue to grow with the increasing demand unless steps are taken to resolve
them. Here are some of the vital problems that highway users face:-
Safety - Although traffic fatalities continue to decrease, there are still approximately 40,000
lives lost annually on any country’s roads and highways, and there are over 17,00,000 serious
disabling injures. The annual cost to the Nation in dollars is estimated at over $137 billion.
Air Quality - As population mounts, traffic volume and congestion will worsen, and clean air
requirements will become more stringent. The key emissions produced by individual vehicles
have decreased between 70 percent (oxides of nitrogen) and 100 percent (lead) since 1990.
Nevertheless, the vehicle-highway system is still one of the largest contributors to air
pollution in urban areas, as a result of increases in VMT, vehicles idling in congestion, and
the driving habits of the vehicle operators. The Nation’s concern is reflected in the Clean Air
Act (CAA) and amendments, which have established emission guidelines that must be
considered in transportation planning.
Trip Quality - Trip quality for many Indian drivers and passengers continues to erode. The
reasons for this erosion include safety concerns, driver frustration and discomfort as
congestion increases, and lack of predictable trip times. Also, some drivers, including the
elderly, are intimidated or frightened by freeway travel.
12.1 VEHICLE CONTROL
Vehicle control is probably the most important part of the advanced AHS applications.
Implementation of AHS necessitates automatically controlled vehicles as mentioned
previously. Achieving the optimal solution to congestion and safety problems requires
extensive research in system modeling, lateral (steering) controls and longitudinal (speed and
headway) controls. In a fully automated highway system, these control systems will rely on
vehicle-to-vehicle communication, as information on velocity and acceleration of other
vehicles will be utilized in individual vehicle controllers.
The same information and much more (e.g., desired speed and lane) may also be received via
vehicle-to-roadside communications. Here, we will briefly discuss the research on lateral,
longitudinal and combined lateral and longitudinal control of vehicles.
12.2 LATERAL CONTROL
Hessburg and Tomizuka designed a fuzzy rule-based controller for lateral guidance of a
vehicle. This system is based on human-type reasoning. Advantages of such a controller
include flexibility in the choices of input/outputs, and on-line/off-line training capability.
Their focus was achieving good tracking for a variety of roadway curves over a range of
longitudinal vehicle speeds. Simulations to demonstrate its performance under parameter
variations and external disturbances gave satisfactory results.
It concentrates the intelligence in the vehicle, using the visual sensing approach described. In
this model, no infrastructure modification is needed, but considerable cost and complexity is
added to each individual vehicle. With the current rate of technology improvement, this
system may become feasible for production purposes. During the last five years, the research
on lateral vehicle control and lane changing maneuvers was extensive.
Besides the theoretical modeling for lateral control of vehicles, there are a few important
experimental accomplishments: the use of magnetic markers, and the use of visual
information for lateral position handling. The first method was designed by the PATH
Program and employs magnetic markers imbedded into the road to detect the lateral
displacement from the center of the lane. Current tests with a vehicle equipped with magnetic
sensors on its front bumper are reported to be successful. The second application for lateral
control uses visual data and on-board computing resources to obtain the steering command,
and is designed by another NASHC participant. In order to locate the road ahead, the “rapidly
adapting lateral position handler” (RALPH) uses a template-based matching technique to find
parallel image features such as lane markings or tire and oil markings. During the experiment
called “No Hands across America,” the test bed vehicle equipped with the RALPH system
drove 98% of the 2850 mile journey autonomously. An average speed of 63mph in conditions
that included bright sunlight, dusk, rain and nighttime, and a maximum stretch of 69- miles
autonomous driving are reported. A third application for lateral control consists of a vision-
based system with neural network learning from a driver. Performance levels comparable to
the human driver were reported well.
12.3 LONGITUDINAL CONTROL
Longitudinal control is an important aspect of the future AHS. One of the major concepts in
this area is platooning, which is a formation of traveling vehicles that maintain close spacing
at highway speeds. The concept requires inter-vehicle communication links to provide
velocity and possibly acceleration information from the lead vehicle to each of the following
vehicles, as well as the velocity and acceleration of the preceding vehicle in the platoon.
Sheikholeslam and Desoer showed that inter-vehicle communications increases the stability
of the platoon formation in the case of identical vehicle platoons.
In the case of a platoon of non-identical vehicles, the situation is more complex. Frank, Liu,
and Liang explicitly considered the case of non-identical vehicles. The control scheme
presented combines three nested control loops for speed regulation, spacing control, and
speed synchronization. They also concluded that:
(a) The platoon size must be limited to approximately 15 vehicles.
(b) Nonlinearities significantly affect the response characteristic of the platoon.
(c) Emergency situations need further investigation before proper sensor specifications can be
set.
It has also been shown that communicating the lead vehicle’s information to other vehicles is
not a requirement if we can tolerate degradation in the performance. This degradation is said
to be not catastrophic. Recent research on longitudinal control includes vehicle follower
control design for heavy-duty vehicles, adaptive control of a nonlinear platoon model,
automatic braking systems and their effects on capacity, advanced control techniques, and
adaptive traction control.
Experimental results of longitudinal vehicle control include a platoon of four vehicles
traveling at 55mph with a headway distances under 50 cm. Again, lead vehicle’s information
is transmitted to following vehicles in order to achieve string stability.
12.4 COMBINED LATERAL AND LONGITUDINAL CONTROL
Although much of the research up to date has focused primarily on either lateral or
longitudinal control, an overall automated driving system combining both lateral and
longitudinal control is vital for future automated highway systems.
System models which incorporate longitudinal and lateral dynamics are very rare.
Kachroo and Tomizuka studied combined longitudinal and lateral control to investigate the
resulting behavior of the coupled system. It is shown that longitudinal controllers that directly
control the wheel slip are inherently more stable, especially during lateral maneuvers on very
slippery road conditions. Spooner and Passino also developed sliding mode controllers for
longitudinal and lateral control.
Their fault tolerant algorithms were found to be stable for a variety of faults such as
braking, power train, and steering systems. Sideris considered combined control using partial
state-measurements of longitudinal and lateral deviations, longitudinal velocity and yaw rate.
The research on combined control of vehicles is moving toward more realistic systems. New
control approaches for more platoon operations in more complex situations such as entry and
exit maneuvers are being studied.
The PATH program investigates the use of machine vision for guiding lane change
maneuvers. The vision system is modularly interfaced with the existing magnetic sensor
system for lateral position measurements, and with active range sensors. Ozguner also
described a vehicle-roadway system in which the control of vehicle movement is based on
instrumentation located both in the vehicle and the roadway. A radar based system is used for
both cruise control, and for providing position information in lateral maneuvers.
Combined lateral and longitudinal control experiments are yet to be designed and
implemented.
CHAPTER 13
CONCLUSION
Automated Highway Systems brings major transportation benefits in terms of safety,
efficiency, affordability and usability, and environment in order to achieve its development
goals.
A key feature of the control design architecture is the separation of the various control
functions into distinct layers with well-defined interfaces. Each layer is then designed with its
own model that is suited to the functions for which it is responsible. The models at the
various layers are different not only in terms of their formal structure (ranging from
differential equations to state machines to static graphs), but also in the entities that have a
role in them.
The AHS is a complex large-scale control system, whose design required advances in
sensor, actuator, and communication technologies (not discussed here) and in techniques of
control system synthesis and analysis. It is a measure of the advanced state of the art that
these techniques have reached a stage that they could be successfully used in the AHS
project.
Though it has been said so, the reasons why many federal programs like the National
Automated Highway System Research Program (NAHSRP) failed was that the program was
trapped in technology-optimism. Several U.S. DOT reports on AHS show that there are no
technical and non-technical showstoppers. However, legal, institutional, and societal
challenges just as critical as technical issues. Moreover, these institutional and societal issues
cannot be settled in one day, because they are much to do with people’s perception, behavior,
consensus and social changes based on those.
CHAPTER 14
REFERERNCE(S)
1. Ajay kumar dayma and Arihant Verma – A review on automated highway system
https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2106695.pdf
2. Cheon, Sanghyun, ―An Overview of Automated Highway systems (AHS) and the
social and the institutional challenges that they face.” Link:
http://www.uctc.net/papers/624.pdf
3. Horowitz, Roberto and Varaiya, Pravin, ―Control Design of an Automated Highway
System” – Proceeds of the IEEE, Volume 88, No.7, pp-913 – 925, July 2000.
4. Congress, Nita. ―Smart Road, Smart Car: The Automated Highway System‖. Public
Roads Online. Autumn 1996. Pg.4, 5 & 7. Link:
http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/fall96/p96au46.htm.
5. National Automated Highway System Research Program: A Review. TRB Special
Report 253.Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. National
Academy Press. Washington, D.C. 1998. pg.15, 32 & 37.
6. National Automated Highway System Consortium, ―Technical Feasibility
Demonstration – Vehicle Platooning‖ 1997. Pg 1-4.
7. Lay, Rodney K., Gene M. McHale, and William B. Stevens. The U.S. DOT Status
Report on the Automated Highway Systems Program. Working Note 95W0000093.
Mtretek Systems, Center for Telecommunications and Advanced Technology.
McLean, Virginia. July 1996. Pg.8-2.

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Major Project Report

Submitted to:- Submitted by:-

ARYA INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY &

(Session 2020- 2021)

Ms. Geetanjali Ganguly Mr. Navneet Anand

Head of department Project Guide

Department of Civil Engineering Department of Civil Engineering

AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page ii

Words are inadequate in offering my thanks to Ms. Geetanjali Ganguly, Head of CE

Also my warm thanks to Arya Institute of Engineering Technology and Management,

Ajay Kumawat (17EAOCE003)

Arihant Verma (17EAOCE009)

Rakesh Prajapat (17EAOCE047)

AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page iii

Key Words: AHS Functional Evolution, Incremental Deployment, Reducing Accident

AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page iv

AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page v

AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page vi

Figure 2.1 A concept drawing of an Automated Highway 4

Figure 3.1 Automated highway system with AHS 6

Figure 7.1 The Control Design of an Automated Highway 16

Fig -8.1 Sensor for lateral motion 18

Fig -8.2 Sensor for longitudinal motion 19

Fig -8.3 Sensor for obstacle motion 20

Figure 11.3 Tight coordination between vehicles. A scene

AIETM/2021-22/Major project Page vii

Advances in the computing technologies, micro-electronics and sensors in the 1980’s

In 1994, the US Department of Transportation launched the National Highway

Many studies conducted by the National Automated Highway Systems Consortium

AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEMS

AHS also uses communication, sensor and obstacle-detection technologies to

2.1 MAJOR AHS GOALS

The major goals are to:

1. Improve safety by significantly reducing:

2. Save money and optimize investment by:

• Maximizing efficiency of the existing infrastructure investment.

3. Improve accessibility and mobility by:

• Improving employee on-time performance, resulting in a more effective work force.

4. Improve environmental efficiencies by:

• Reducing emissions per vehicle-mile travelled.

5. Create jobs by:

• Providing a stronger national economy and increasing global competitiveness.

This knowledge is obtained by either vehicle based or roadside based detection,

Figure 3.1: Automated highway system with AHS vehicle

3.1. GOALS OF AHS

1. Enhancement of surface transportation efficiency.

2. Achievement of national transportation safety goals.

3. Protection and enhancement of the natural environment and communities affected by

4. Accommodation of the needs of all users of surface transportation systems.

5. Improvement of the Nation’s ability to respond to emergencies and natural disasters.

2. User Desirability: The AHS must be practical, desirable, and user-friendly.

3. Consistency with Surrounding Non-AHS Roadways: AHS operation must integrate

4. Dual-Mode Vehicle Instrumentation: Only vehicles instrumented for and operating

8. Freeway Type of Roadway: In general, an AHS roadway is expected to have freeway

In fact, a spectrum of approaches can be envisioned for highway automation systems

THE SYSTEM CONCEPT AND TECHNOLOGIES

5.1 THE FIVE CONCEPT FAMILIES

• Independent Vehicle Concept:

5.2 CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES

CONTROL DESIGN OF AN AUTOMATED

7.1 THE FIVE LAYER THEORY

Figure 7.1 – The Control Design of an Automated Highway System