Precursor Systems Analyses of Automated Highway Systems Resource Materials Malfunction Management Activity Area Report for AHS Health Management

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  Raytheon Company
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Automated Highway Systems Commercial Vehicles Tractor Trailer Combinations Traffic Platooning Trucks
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-RD-95-047
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Right Statement:
  Public Domain
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Abstract:
  In contrast to most automobiles, commercial vehicles are bought and operated to earn a profit. Desirability and feasibility of an MIS for commercial and transit vehicles depends on the readiness of the commercial truck operators to pay for MIS investments. The final MIS concepts as well as the steps to get to there have to be designed with this in mind. Commercial vehicles are already today operated in platoons. Up to three unmanned trailers are towed by a tractor for long-distance freight transport. Costly transfer of the cargo to distribution trucks for final delivery is normally necessary. A logical AHS-like concept would be to equip the trailers with an own drivetrain and to couple them electronically to the leading vehicle - hereby forming truck convoys. In order to provide maximum use of truck convoys from the beginning, the system should be usable on any highway without extra infrastructure and keep the driver as a backup and supervisor. Truck convoys that are driven by a driver are feasible in mixed traffic situations and can be driven on normal non-instrumented lanes. To start with, two vehicles can be electronically coupled. The leading vehicle will be steered by the driver, followed by the second, unmanned one. Personnel costs for long-distance driving will be reduced. The two-vehicle system can be extended to allow an arbitrary number of vehicles to be coupled together. As soon as the number of convoyable vehicles extends a certain percentage, special AHS-lanes will be assigned to them or built for them around congested regions. Operators of equipped cargo vehicles will get an extra benefit due to small and predictable travel times. Combining trucks in convoys frees up space for passenger cars. Moreover, those combined truck convoys drive at longer distances that make it more likely that the space between them is actually used. This shows that even from automating truck traffic, cars will have substantial benefits on manual lanes. Stable longitudinal control of a truck platoon driving with very short distances will be one of the most challenging problems for commercial MIS. The long lag time in the drivetrain due to diesel engines, the relatively small engine power per mass and the large variation of possible loads represents a special challenge for the control of trucks as opposed to passenger cars. Experience with previous realizations of laterally guided systems shows that reliable operation can be achieved.
• Content Notes:
  Task F
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  Federal Highway Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:151e7392535d935da02b17a0862f36f94f19d7715b7d57ac8c6232b4745cdc68e57de96929de212edda4daf54c837dfd658a4cf21f97be586ce35aed2cbd1831
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/75414/dot_75414_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 8.54 MB ]