Fw: prop automated vehicles and highways

["David Poehlman" <poehlman1@home.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry Brown" <wd8oep@YAHOO.COM>
To: <VICUG-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 11:26 AM
Subject: prop automated vehicles and highways


Hi folks,
Harry from Michigan emailing.
Since computers are mentioned in the proposal below, I thought I'd
submit it to
the list.  I'm working on this nationally with both disabled and
non-disabled folks.
If the list owners don't feel that this post is appropriate, then that's
ok too.
I just thought I'd submit it to the list since it will be affecting us
directly.
Harry
automated vehicle proposal
My proposal consists of a conversion kit that would be connected to any
vehicle,
by being bolted into the chasse. This kit would consist of the following
1. gps
2. a digital map
3. cameras
4. a doppler radar colision avoidance system, augmented with lazer radar
to detect
distances of vehicles in front of the vehicle
5. automatic cruze controll systems which will maintain proper spacing
between
vehicles
6. forward, reerend, and lane change colision technology
7. an automatic breaking system
8. Side impact sensers which will cover blind spots to the sides of the
vehicle,
whether in the front of or in the back of the vehicle.
9. break, steer, and throttle-by-wire, (also known as drive by wire),
which will
utilize steering, throttle, and break actuators keeping the vehicle from
exceeding
the speed limit, and also keeping the vehicle in the correct lane.
10. magnetic sensors to detect the vehicles ladderal deviation relative
to roadway
magnetic markers installed on roadways, buried at 4 foot intervals along
the lane
center line and detected by magnetometers.
11. an antenna to receive the radio wave controll point marker
information
12. an automatic steering actuator
13. a lane marker detecter
14. a steering guidance system which automatically controlls the
steering of the
vehicle
15. magnetometers located under the bumpers of the vehicle
16. forward scanning Lazer sensers that seek out obstacles in front of
the vehicle.

17.  this vehicle would use a small linear motor for magnetic levitation
on the
guideway which is now known as the expressway.
18.  For city use, the vehicle would use a hydragin engine or an
electronic motor.
19.  instead of expressways, guideways which are tracks that run along
each  expressway
would be built, but they'd only would be accessable for vehicles which
are designed
to work on tracks, and also on city streets.
20.  Rows of electrical magnets will provide guidance on the guideway,
with magnetic
levitation to keep the vehicle from touching the guideway.
21.  the vehicle would drive itself on the guideways as well as on the
city streets,
side streets, parking lots, and residential driveways
22.  If the power to the guideway goes out, the wheels will support the
vehicle,
and the vehicle will be guided and coast straight ahead
23.  If power goes out on 1 section of the guideway, or if the section
is shut
down for maintenance, that section will be instantly and automatically
isolated,
and other guideway traffic will be turned away from that section.
24.  Automatic mag lev entrance and exit ramps will be vital features of
the system.
 Vehicles wishing to enter the guideway will be automatically
excellerated  to
the full 350 mile per hour speed and then slipped into line.  Vehicles
wishing
to exit from the high speed car stream are slipped out of line, smoothly
desellerated,
and guided back to the streets of the city, where more automation takes
charge
of the vehicle, and the vehicle continues, being guided by roadway
sensors, or
roadway magnetic markers taking charge of the vehicle.
25.  If a guideway computer should fail, a backup computer will
instantly automatically
take over.
26.  hackers won't be able to vandalize the system, because the system
will be
independant of the internet.
27.  Before the system will permit a vehicle on to the guideway entrance
ramp,
the driver  or someone inside the vehicle will need to either punch in
on a keyboard
or say a guideway exit number  where the vehicle needs to exit at.  This
exit choice
can be changed while in route if the change is made soon enough.  After
the exit
number is keyed or spoken, the computer will speak a message suchas, "If
you wish
to leave the guideway at exit number 473  either say yes or press y, or
say no
or press n.  Then the system will determine the best and fastest route
to get there,
that's if your trip involves more than 1 guideway of the national
guideway network,
and it'll route your vehicle from 1 guideway to the next.
28.  The guideway will be payed for by billing the users automatically.
A bar
code reader and an integrated circuit chip in the vehicle will identify
the vehicle
and its owner to the system as the vehicle enters the guideway entrance
ramp.
the typed or spoken exit number will tell the computer how long the trip
will be,
and when to bill the user.
29.  All vehicles will be forced to under go a safety test, and
participate in
a vehicle maintenance program.  If the computer finds anything wrong in
the code
of the entering vehicle to the guideway, suchas an out of date safety
check, or
an over due guideway bill, the system will divert the vehicle back on to
the street,
rather than letting the trip continue in an unsafe or unpaid vehicle.
30.  The vehicles will look the way we want them to look, made by our
favorite
auto companies, and the styling can change yearly, just like they do
today.
31.  there will also be taxis, light trucks on the guideways that run
the same
way.
32.  the name of the  system will be called the national high and low
speed mag
lev transportation system, also called  (hilomag) for short
33.  These guideways will be available 24 hours per day.  When sections
are closed
for maintenance, the system will route traffic to detours.
34.  This system will opperate throughout  the entire US, than expand
into Canada
and Mexico.
35.  the system will run the same speed everywhere, 350 highway, 60
city.
36.  no vehicle will go to fast or too slow.
37.  these vehicles would be the owners, parked at their residence, just
like they
are today.
38.  the vehicle would automatically be locked so children couldn't fall
out by
accident.
Get this, 1 hilomag guideway lane equals 40 expressway  lanes, and in
and around
the city, 1 guideway lane will equal 12 freeway lanes.  It would take
1686 Grey-hound
buses per hour to equal the capacity of 1 200 mph hilomag guideway.  It
would take
80 trains per hour of 1000 passengers each to equal a 79200 passenger
per hour
carrying capacity of 1 hilomag guideway going only 350 mph.  Here's
another thing
that's amazing about this system, 1 hilomag guideway has the same
capacity of carrying
186 fully loaded 747s per hour.  The total time between 2 destinations
of 1000
miles appart would be less by hilomag than by jet, and it's much cheaper
than a
jet.
It would work like this. I, the driver, would get in the vehicle and the
vehicle
would ask me "where do you want to go?" It would already know what
address I'd
be at because of gps. I would tell it what address I want to go to, and
the system
would tell me how many steps it would be and how long it'd take to get
there.
Then the vehicle would start up, or, the driver could start it up
manually. Then
the vehicle would pull out of the driveway, or pull away from the
address because
the vehicle would be parked on the street. It would then drive to the
address where
the driver wants to go. The speed, steering, and breaking would be
automatically
controlled by the software within the vehicles computer.
What are the benefits of such a vehicle?
1. Crashes would be avoided because of radar, sensers, and or cameras on
the front
and side of the vehicle.
2. This vehicle could drive through fog, blizzards, whiteouts, rain
storms,  smoke,
etc.
3. This vehicle will also give baby boomers independance, because more
of them
are getting older, and will have sight problems, or have strokes, and
won't be
able to see,  or move hands or feet to drive a car, etc.  They don't
want to have
to buy a new car because of lack of income, so if they could just put a
kit on
to their current vehicle, (or if someone could put the kit on the
vehicle) so the
vehicle could drive itself, it'd save them money but still give them
their much
desired independance.
4. Accidents will be illiminated.
5. The speed limit could be raised to  350 MPH between cities, and 60
MPH in the
city, because the vehicle wouldn't be controlled by people but it would
be driving
itself, therefor, vehicle speed would be perfectly controlled, and
breaking to
stop at intersections could start 5 to 10 feet or further away from the
intersection
so the vehicle wouldn't have to stop so suddenly.
6. people could eat, drink, shave, sleep, read, tend to children in the
back seat,
adjust the radio, talk on a handheld cell phone, find another cd to
play, talk
with each other inside the vehicle, send faxes, adjust the air
conditioning, watch
TV, do other office work, etc.  instead of trying to do those kind of
things and
drive at the same time which results in accidents which happens today.
7. no more roadway departure crashes.
8. no more roll over accidents
9. no more rear end crashes
10. no more lane change crashes
11. no more intersection crashes
12. no more head on colisions
13. no more drunk driving accidents because vehicles will drive
themselves
14. no more deaths and injuries will occur, because there won't be any
more accidents
15. no more suv roll over deaths
16. no more new roads will need to be built, because vehicles will drive
themselves
and avoid conjestion
17. no more driver distractions
18. no more road rage
19. driver stress would be done away with
20. pollution would hardly exist because the flow of traffic would be
continuous
and folks would get to their destinations much faster, thus the use of
fuel would
be reduced.
21. conjestion on roads would no longer exist, cutting travel times at
least in
half or more
22.  no more tail gating
23.  no more problems driving with sun glare
24.  better utilization of  roads
25.  improved traffic flow.
26.  lower costs for freight hulling
27.  no more delays in traffic when going from 1 place to another
28.  airport delays will not exist, because people will not be flying as
much as
they were, accept over seas.
29.  people will still have their independance as they have always
wanted because
that's why they have always bought cars instead of taken public
transportation.
30.  no protection of passengers from impact will need to be built into
these vehicles,
because impact from accidents won't occur
31.  passengers won't need to wear seat belts any more
32.  passenger safety systems inside the vehicle won't be needed, making
the vehicle
lighter
33.  hospitalization, meddical, surgical, and rehabilitation  costs due
to vehicle
accidents will cease
34.  law suits over traffic accidents will be no more
35.  no passing will occur, since the vehicle will drive itself
36.  there will be no need for public transportation, because people
will be going
door to door.
37.  no more using wrental cars within the US. or Canada, because you
would be
traveling in your own vehicle instead of flying.
38. people living near airports  won't have nearly as much airplane
noise to deal
with, since people won't be flying within the US. and Canada but only
over seas.
39.  no more problems with slick roads
40.  no more blow outs will occur
41.  there will be no more careless drivers on the roads
42.  These vehicles will give us what we all want, our privacy, compared
to public
transportation which doesn't give us our privacy.
I'm not interested in making any money (not 1 penny) from my proposal,
but we need
to get moving on this and get this kit into production, and the roads,
and guideways
ready, cause right now, people are being injured in accidents and even
being killed
on highways and roads, and the sooner the automated vehicle is on the
market, the
safer we'll all be.
I'd like to thank the following folks and groups for their ideas so far.
The folks
at Delphi Automotive, Bill Gardner who works at the Mn department of
transportation,
the folks at California Path at the University of California at
Berkeley, and the
folks at Toyota,   the NCTR  the impact of emerging technologies and the
web site
is www.civeng.unsw.edu.au/IEAustTP/NCTR/ITSNCTRVer2.html, Francis
Reynolds, a retired
engineer at Bowing who really knows his stuff when it comes to mag lev
guideway
systems, and who is a pilot himself, so if he says it will do better
than a plane,
we all need to take notice.
If you have any more questions about the kit, or suggestions
of other things that I could put in the proposal, just email me and be
specific
in your suggestions, and let's stay in close touch. my email address is
wd8oep@yahoo.com
take care,
Harry Brown, Port Huron, Michigan March 23, 2001


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