Improving Traffic Flow in the 21st Century: The Automated Road System

Abstract

Our current road traffic infrastructure is aging and obsolete. The majority of our transportation network was designed during the earliest days of the automobile. During the last century, we have witnessed tremendous population growth that is far outpacing the ability of our aging infrastructure to meet our increasing logistical needs. The purpose of the thesis is to provide an intelligent road framework that is highly adaptive, and designed specifically to handle automated vehicles. The focus of the paper is to investigate effective intersection switching strategies; to provide the ability to provide the shortest path between two points in a dynamically changing environment; and to provide parking management and inter-vehicle communication.