An optical lateral control system for vehicles
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"It is evident that we will need a new mode of highway transportation within the next fifteen years. There are already 103 million vehicles (cars, trucks, and buses) on our roads; the majority of which are concentrated in the cities (1), The limited access highways connecting these cities are near capacity. With the traffic volume increasing at a rate of more than 3% per year, the highways are becoming more crowded (2). As a result, the number of traffic accidents is also increasing. Thus, if we assume that the automobile's popularity as a personalized transportation unit will continue to grow, then a serious highway traffic problem will be inevitable. One solution to this problem is highway automation. This automated highway system would be a high speed, high capacity system. It would accomodate fluctuations in traffic demand. It would also offer greater safety, faster travel times, and fixed arrival times. The concept of an automated highway system is explained in detail in a major report of the Northeast Corridor Survey (1). At the entrances to this automated highway, the driver relays information regarding his destination. He then relinquishes the control of the vehicle to the system. The driver’s automobile is conventional but it has additional equipment to interface with the automated system. This system controls traffic flows, determines route and speed of the individual vehicles. The four subsystems that interface a vehicle to this fully automated highway system are: 1. A longitudinal control system 2. An obstacle detection system 3. A lateral control system 4. A computerized control system The longitudinal control system uses radar to measure the distance and relative velocity between the vehicles. It controls the acceleration and braking to maintain a given inter-vehicular spacing. The obstacle detection system detects any significant foreign objects in the roadway that could cause damage to the vehicle. A signal is sent to the braking mechanism if such an obstacle is detected. The lateral control system steers the vehicle along the roadway. This system could use optical, magnetic, or radar devices for tracking the roadway. The computerized control system retrieves information from the above three systems, processes it with route}traffic flow, and destination information, and sends the appropriate command signals to the individual vehicles. This computer system also monitors messages to the vehicles (see figure 1)."--Introduction.
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