Overview

Advanced sensing, communications, and computing promise to allow vehicles to operate automatically, to avoid collisions, and to prevent or deal with injuries when a crash does occur. These have been demonstrations of automated vehicles in San Diego, Phoenix, and the Netherlands. Some of the building blocks of an eventual automated vehicle are already in use: adaptive cruise control, anti-lock brakes, and in-vehicle navigation. The California Department of Transportation is testing the use of magnets in the road to guide snowplow operators when visibility is poor. Collision avoidance systems for trucks have been developed and marketed in Japan and the US. Auto makers are offering systems in their luxury cars that track the car and call for assistance in the case of a crash. Findings:

• There are markets for individual intelligent vehicle components that increase safety, comfort, or convenience
• Because of the challenges of combining intelligent highways with the existing highway system, fully automated vehicle operation is still some years away