DEVELOPMENT OF HIERARCHICAL METHODOLOGY FOR BENEFIT EVALUATION OF VEHICLE-HIGHWAY AUTOMATION: CASE STUDY OF THE HOUSTON KATY FREEWAY

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1999

Subject Area

infrastructure - vehicle, infrastructure - bus/tram priority, infrastructure - bus/tram lane, land use - impacts, land use - planning, economics - appraisal/evaluation, economics - benefits, technology - intelligent transport systems, mode - carpool

Keywords

Trade off analysis, Systems approach, Systems analysis, System planning, System analysis, RTI, Road transport informatics, Priority lanes, Performance, Microsimulation, IVHS, ITS (Intelligent transportation systems), Intelligent Vehicle Initiative, Intelligent vehicle highway systems, Intelligent transportation systems, Impacts, HOV lanes, Houston (Texas), High occupancy vehicle lanes, Diamond lanes, Decision making, Cruise control, Comparison studies, Case studies, Carpool lanes, Benefits, AVCS, Automatic highway systems, Automated highway systems, ATT, Alternatives analysis, Advanced vehicle control systems, Advanced transport telematics, Adaptive systems, Adaptive control

Abstract

A hierarchical methodology used to design and benefit the evaluation of vehicle-highway automation systems at various levels of granularity is described. In this hierarchy, detailed microsimulation and experimental data and performance measures feed into consecutively higher, system-level analyses. Ultimately, top-level estimates of system benefits are provided to transportation decision makers. The method is designed to accommodate studies of autonomous vehicle control concepts such as the safety services under consideration as advanced vehicle control and safety system (AVCSS) intelligent transportation system services, some of which have been discussed as U.S. Department of Transportation Intelligent Vehicle Initiative services; it will also accommodate studies of the fully automated highway systems. The method is illustrated with a multifaceted set of studies of the relationship between the degree of automated vehicle-highway cooperation and system performance improvement on the Houston, Texas, Metropolitan Transit Authority High-Occupancy Vehicle facility on Interstate 10, also known as the Katy Freeway. The primary objective is to predict performance impacts for alternative concepts, which will undergo a major investment study, in a real-world setting. The study initially focused on automated highway systems, but the methodology has since been applied to the adaptive cruise control AVCSS service.

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