Should Illinois take the lead in road going cars and smart highways? (Chicago: sales, house)

[Smedskjaer]

Although we are debating HSR, cars will not be phased out. The car is still important, but I believe the next expansion of the road network will be focused on the car itself and not the construction of highways. An idea some colleges have researched and developed is the smart highway and the 'wolfpack' or 'car train', where a driver will designate their destination and the car will find a wolf pack that will pass that destination and pilot itself so it follows less than a meter behind another car. Drafting like this will save fuel but is dangerous to do manually. It will also increase the capacity of the highway system, allowing more cars to use the same lanes without causing major traffic jams. Should Illinois take the lead and convert its highways and mandate new car sales to include smart car technology?


A little video to help start the debate.

[Drover]

What's with all these abstract questions?

[Craziaskowboi]

Bend over and I'll show you where you can build your first "smart highway." Does anybody else think that that whole concept is an ass-backwards application of technology? If people don't want to drive themselves, then they can always take a bus or a train, in which somebody else does the driving for them. Part of the appeal of a car is that you get to drive it yourself, so don't punish those of us who actually take driving seriously by trying to automate our private modes of transportation and make our cars drive for us. Smart highways are for dumb drivers. I prefer dumb highways that just lay there and act like asphalt, thank you.

[HighPlainsDrifter73]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Bend over and I'll show you where you can build your first "smart highway." Does anybody else think that that whole concept is an ass-backwards application of technology? If people don't want to drive themselves, then they can always take a bus or a train, in which somebody else does the driving for them. Part of the appeal of a car is that you get to drive it yourself, so don't punish those of us who actually take driving seriously by trying to automate our private modes of transportation and make our cars drive for us. Smart highways are for dumb drivers. I prefer dumb highways that just lay there and act like asphalt, thank you.

This is exactly how I feel also. I enjoy driving and don't want a computer or whatever to do the driving/thinking for me.

With the state of finances in Illinois, there is no money now or in the near future to take on questionable/grandeous projects.

[Smedskjaer]

Somebody better tell the Ohio State University their Automated Highway System is ass-backwards then. The Virginia Department of Transportation better close down its Smart Road testbed too.

Driver-less cars is the future of automotive design because we do not have the money to build more highways for more and more drivers. The only way to increase capacity is to develop the smart car and mandate its use. The car offers a lot of freedom, but the drivers car will be a thing of the past in my lifetime.

[SonySegaTendo617]

I don't think this idea is realistic, since you shouldn't punish all drivers(majority that know what they're doing) for the actions of the few drivers who should have to take remedial driving classes based on what driving law(s) they violated. Instead, I'd rather see expressways retrofitted to have separate lanes for trucks and cars, and more federal investment be done with resurrecting rail service in areas that once had service decades ago. Also, a great idea would be to finally have additional passenger rail lines connecting mid-size cities and bigger towns that don't run to downtown Chicago(say like a line that'd run inbetween Galesburg and Champaign, and theoretically it could be expanded east to Indy, and northwest to the Quad Cities), so that people in other parts of Illinois(and I hope other states would later consider doing this, as well) have a greater incentive to use Amtrak. With improved rail service creating new passenger rail lines(essentially restoring rail service on lines that once had intercity rail service decades ago) so that more cities(besides Chicago, and I've always thought cities like Saint Louis, Indianapolis, Cleveland, etc.) would once again be major hubs for passenger rail, that'd also help a lot to ease the strain of non-truck traffic on cross-country expressways.

I also think tax incentives for companies(namely Greyhound and Megabus) to add bus service in underserved communities where it doesn't currently exist also would help. Before my brother finally got his own car, it was a PITA for him to have to always ask for rides from others when he went to college(namely Earlham College), and Greyhound suddenly eliminated service(among a big round of nationwide service cuts) to Richmond, Indiana. And when you think about the high number of varied cities and towns that lost service in that round of cuts years ago, it only makes sense for more of the smaller cities and bigger towns to have access to intercity bus service, even if some of those communities may only have 1 or 2 buses(and not all buses) stopping there a day.

Well, I'm sure you won't like my post Smed, but can't help but think that making the driving of cars automated, and having cars join 'wolfpacks' on interstate highways are not realistic ideas considering how varied the driving habits of individuals throughout the country can be. Sorry, but I'd rather see major improvements to passenger rail throughout the country(currently very woeful, versus other countries), and actual implementation of separate interstate expressway lane(s) for trucks. Plus, implementation of ideas that have successfully worked in other states, such as this:

YouTube - Diverging Diamond Interchange

[Smedskjaer]

I am fine with the post but I disagree with the idea that this is needed because of a few bad drivers. It is because I strongly believe we cannot afford continued expansion of the highway system to increase capacity. Instead, the automated car, one that cruises at 110mph bumper to bumper, should be our next goal in traffic engineering.

[linicx]

Well, it is an interesting concept. if these are driverless cars in a pack it would cenrtainly save fuel, might speed up the driving time, and could certainly eliminate bad driving.

Presumably, these vehicles are computerzed. What happens if you are in the middle of the pack and your car kinda quits like when the hard drive or power supply dies on a PC? Is there a chain reaction of rear-end collisions?

Illinois is 102 Counties divided into Townships further divided n one-mile square grids. How is this automated car supposed to take me 24. 73 miles to my firends house in another county using nothing but mostly unmarked county roads? You simply cannot drive 110 mph on these roads. There is simply too many things that can go wrong at the worst possible time. If you are thinking GPS, it needs to be much smarter than it is now and a whole lot smarter than the so-called Smart phones.

[Smedskjaer]

Originally Posted by linicx

Well, it is an interesting concept. if these are driverless cars in a pack it would cenrtainly save fuel, might speed up the driving time, and could certainly eliminate bad driving.

Presumably, these vehicles are computerzed. What happens if you are in the middle of the pack and your car kinda quits like when the hard drive or power supply dies on a PC? Is there a chain reaction of rear-end collisions?

Illinois is 102 Counties divided into Townships further divided n one-mile square grids. How is this automated car supposed to take me 24. 73 miles to my firends house in another county using nothing but mostly unmarked county roads? You simply cannot drive 110 mph on these roads. There is simply too many things that can go wrong at the worst possible time. If you are thinking GPS, it needs to be much smarter than it is now and a whole lot smarter than the so-called Smart phones.

I am thinking about updating the highways with embedded sensors and communication technology and mandating cars sold in Illinois be capable of automated highway driving.

[linicx]

You need to define highway. To me it is a surfaced road on which a vehicle can travel 55 mph or faster. you cannot do this on all county roads.

Can this smart car sense the deer that jump out of the woods and freeze in headlights without warning, marked school zones, dangerous curves and nine degree hills? How can you embed sensors in gravel or dirt roads - especially since they are regraded or re-graveled every year or two?

Originally Posted by Smedskjaer

I am thinking about updating the highways with embedded sensors and communication technology and mandating cars sold in Illinois be capable of automated highway driving.