STAGE DEFINITION FOR AHS DEPLOYMENT AND AN AHS EVOLUTIONARY SCENARIO

Pros and cons of various mature Automated Highway Systems (AHS) have b een a subject of intense study. However, such discussions are nothing but intellectual exercises unless the issue of how to evolve, in a pla nned and managed fashion, the current highway systems towards these ma ture AHS is also addressed. Since full functionality of a mature AHS c annot be realized suddenly, discrete functional steps must be identifi ed and optimized. This paper defines an evolutionary stage towards a m ature AHS as any discernible functional increment whose realization ma y encounter considerable difficulties requiring a significant amount o f conscious effort to overcome. A good evolutionary scenario consists of stages each of which provides sufficient additional functionality t hat justifies the required effort to overcome the associated difficult ies. Six dimensions of deployment difficulties are identified: technol ogy. infrastructure, human factors, vehicle manufacturing and maintena nce, insurance and public will. An illustrative evolutionary scenario is also provided. Since issues regarding deploying AHS in the real wor ld actually dictate AHS technological requirements. deployment researc h should be an integral part of AHS concept definition/evaluation and system design.