Scrupuli
blunt essays with sharp points
Intelligent Transportation Systems (revisited)
by ScrvpvlvsJun 14, 2010 7:24 AM–Responding to a call on the Freakonomics blog for suggestions to improve urban mobility, I have updated my 2008 article on the subject and posted a shorter version at Slate.com.
Intelligent Transportation Systems, as envisioned by Joseph Sussman, a senior civil engineer and professor at MIT.
A couple of years ago, our science museum hosted an exhibit titled “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination”. In one of the exhibit videos, Dr. Sussman gave a talk.
He said the automobile had a profound impact on the design of cities, and on the practicality of mass transit. Before the automobile, homes and other destinations were concentrated in clusters and connected by arteries. These were easily served by bus and train lines. After the automobile, we sprawled in all directions. Serving a sprawl with bus and train lines is impractical. Look, for example, at Fort Worth/Dallas. It has been very difficult for them to provide useful bus or train service to most of the population because of the sprawl.
Dr. Sussman also showed that we have designed in to our current transportation system a certain rate of crashes. This design is why the current safety system wraps large amounts of metal and safety gear around the motorists. Traffic is inevitably delayed when a crash occurs, and sometimes people will be injured or killed despite the safety system—literally by design.
Significantly for our petroleum consumption, most of the fuel burned by personal vehicles turns out to be moving the safety system, not the passengers. And the safety system is also a substantial amount of the cost of building the vehicle.
Dr. Sussman argues for an intelligent transportation system, which he defines as a marriage of high technology with conventional roadways. Automating our personal transit system, he said, would lead to enormous savings measured in lives, injuries, property, fuel, and travel time.
The difficulty is that developing such a system is analogous to the development of rail or the interstate highways. It would be revolutionary, and also require a sea change in attitudes about piloting one’s own vehicle.
In summarizing Dr. Sussman’s ideas, I have no doubt oversimplified or failed to make his points. I recommend reading his published books and articles for a real understanding of what he proposes.
Labels: intelligent transportation systems, joseph sussman, petroleum, science, star wars, traffic, transportation
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Intelligent Transportation Systems
by ScrvpvlvsMar 12, 2008 6:34 PM–The Freakonomics blog was talking here about what causes traffic jams, and this reminded me of something I wanted to write about.
The traveling exhibit Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination came to our science museum not too long ago.
In one video, a senior civil engineer (who I believe was Joseph Sussman at MIT) pointed out that we have designed in to our current transportation system a certain rate of crashes. As long as we use roadways, drivers, and vehicles the way we do, there will be these crashes. Traffic will back up, and worse, people will be injured or killed.
This transportation design is why the current safety model wraps large amounts of metal and safety gear around the motorists.
Significantly for our petroleum consumption, most of the fuel burned by personal vehicles turns out to be moving the vehicle, not the passengers. And, of course, a substantial amount of the cost of the vehicle is the safety system.
He also pointed out that many modern cities were designed in the automobile age. Destinations in such cities are very far apart. It becomes difficult to make public transportation of any kind effective in these cities on existing roads.
He was arguing for intelligent transportation systems. The benefits, he said, are huge in accident prevention, fuel consumption, and trip times. The difficulty is that the project is the size of what we did with rail and with the interstate highways, and probably requires a sea change in attitudes about piloting one's vehicle.
Labels: intelligent transportation systems, joseph sussman, petroleum, science, star wars, traffic, transportation
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