Automated Highways May Solve Future Traffic Jams

“Automated highways” for “smart cars” may be the solution to future traffic jams on increasingly crowded California freeways, according to private and public researchers.

The automated systems, which could double the capacity of current roadways and leave drivers with little to do, would use a power conductor under the roadway that would transmit an electromagnetic field to a power coupling in each “smart car.”

The power conductor would give commands to a guidance and command sensor to steer the vehicle and control its speed and brake.

At the same time, the conductor would charge the car’s batteries to provide power when the vehicle leaves the electrified highway.

Research Funds Needed

Federal and state highway officials say most of the technology is already available for such systems. A 3-year-old federal transportation report said automated highways could be in operation within 14 to 24 years, if enough money is spent on research and development.

Federal Highway Administration officials say they are trying to restore research funds that were wiped out by budget cuts since the report was issued.

General Motors has said that at a cost of $2,400 it could build a detachable system to allow today’s cars to use an electronic highway.

The first signs of future auto-highway systems are already in evidence.

Etak Inc., a Menlo Park firm, sells an auto video system that mounts on the dash board and allows motors to pinpoint their destination on a map displayed on a seven-inch video screen.

In the future, the systems could be used to receive warnings from highway officials about traffic jams, allowing drivers to skirt the tie-ups, says John Vostrez, head of the state Department of Transportation’s new office of new technology and research.

Traveling ‘Yellow Pages’

He envisions the video systems as potential traveling “Yellow Pages,” giving motorists information on such things as nearby hotels, restaurants and stores.

The state has already tested another futuristic system: automated toll booths with electronic eyes that identify cars, note their passage through the booth, and add the toll to commuters’ monthly bills.

But Gerry Meis, head of the Department of Transportation’s toll bridge and commute management office, says early tests have found shortcomings in the vehicle identification system.

He said the scanner that keeps track of which vehicles pass through the toll booths by reading stickers affixed to windshields failed in some instances because the stickers were incorrectly mounted or metallic compounds in windshields caused malfunctions.