Layout, Design And Operation Of A Safe Automated Highway System

This paper is concerned with the consequences of control system failures and external intrusions to a fully Automated Highway System (AHS). A model has been developed which enables the casualty rates in lines of automated vehicles to be calculated, following an initial event. It is applied to several situations here for a variety of possible physical layouts and operational modes of an AHS. It is believed that these configurations encompass all those proposed which are economically attractive, and that the accident types encompass the most important ones. For all accident types, there is one system which has casualties per incident no greater than 10% of its nearest rivals. This "preferred" system is described, and the predicted casualty rate results are quoted and discussed. If reliability of the control systems is sufficient, the advantages of the preferred system become unimportant. Values of reliability required are discussed.