Automated Transit Networks (ATN): A Review of the State of the Industry and Prospects for the Future, MTI Report 12-31

The concept of Automated Transit Networks (ATN) - in which fully automated vehicles on exclusive, grade-separated guideways provide on-demand, primarily non-stop, origin-to-destination service over an area network – has been around since the 1950s. However, only a few systems are in current operation around the world. ATN does not appear “on the radar” of urban planners, transit professionals, or policy makers when it comes to designing solutions for current transit problems in urban areas. This study explains ATN technology, setting it in the larger context of Automated Guideway Transit (AGT); looks at the current status of ATN suppliers, the status of the ATN industry, and the prospects of a U.S.-based ATN industry; summarizes and organizes proceedings from the seven Podcar City conferences that have been held since 2006; documents the U.S./Sweden Memorandum of Understanding on Sustainable Transport; discusses how ATN could expand the coverage of existing transit systems; explains the opportunities and challenges in planning and funding ATN systems and approaches for procuring ATN systems; and concludes with a summary of the existing challenges and opportunities for ATN technology. The study is intended to be an informative tool for planners, urban designers, and those involved in public policy, especially for urban transit, to provide a reference for history and background on ATN, and to use for policy development and research

Scheduling of Traffic Entities Under Reduced Traffic Flow by Means of Fuzzy Logic Control

This paper presents the design of a fuzzy logic-based traffic scheduling algorithm aimed at reducing traffic congestion for the case of partial obstruction of a bidirectional traffic lane. Such a problem is typically encountered in rail traffic and personal rapid transportation systems with predefined and fixed traffic corridors. The proposed proportional-derivative (PD) fuzzy control algorithm, serving as a traffic control automaton, alternately assigns adaptive green light periods to traffic coming from each direction. The proposed fuzzy logic-based traffic controller has been compared with the conventional traffic control automaton featuring fixed-durations of green light intervals. The comparison has been carried out within a simulation environment for four different probability distributions of stochastic traffic flows at each end of the considered traffic corridor. Results have shown that the proposed fuzzy logic-based traffic controller performance is far superior to that of the conventional traffic control law in terms of achieving shorter vehicle queue lengths and less disparity in queue lengths for all considered simulation scenarios

Fully automated urban traffic system

The replacement of the driver with an automatic system which could perform the functions of guiding and routing a vehicle with a human's capability of responding to changing traffic demands was discussed. The problem was divided into four technological areas; guidance, routing, computing, and communications. It was determined that the latter three areas being developed independent of any need for fully automated urban traffic. A guidance system that would meet system requirements was not being developed but was technically feasible

Full Issue 14(4)

il saggio esamina compiutamente la disciplina dell'art. 19 d.lgs. n. 5/200