Invented by Peter Robert Williams, Patrick KESSLER, Lars Herold, Glydways Inc
The Glydways Inc invention works as follows
A system includes at the very least partially autonomous cars, at least partly separated interconnected roads, and a control system.” Each vehicle is designed to work with another vehicle or a controller of an area. The management system can be configured to accept requests for transports, with start points and destinations. The management system can also be configured to assign a vehicle in response to the request. The assigned vehicle can transport a passenger from the respective starting point to the destination, at least partially via interconnected roads.Background for Transportation system
Autonomous cars, including personalized autonomous vehicles, are rapidly advancing. In highly congested areas, however, these vehicles will only make a limited improvement in terms of transportation. This is especially true when there are chokepoints like bridges and tunnels and areas where people arrive or depart at the same time in a very small area. Mass transit systems like commuter rails and subways have a high capacity along planned routes, but they are expensive to build and offer limited flexibility. Light rail systems and other similar systems may be a good solution in some situations, but they might not have the capacity needed to meet demand in areas with high congestion. Accordingly, applicants have identified a requirement for an urban mass transport solution that integrates the advantages of different types of systems while minimizing their disadvantages. The current disclosure includes some examples of systems that address the unmet need for cities to have flexible, high-density transit at a low cost and with minimal footprint.
In an example, a systems includes one or several at least partly autonomous vehicles, at least one or two at least partially segregated interconnected roads, and a control system. Each of the at least partially autonomous vehicle is configured to work with another vehicle or an area controller. The management system can receive transport requests, with start points and destinations. The management system, in response to the request, is also configured to assign an autonomous vehicle to fulfill the demand and notify the assigned autonomous car of the assignment. “The assigned autonomous vehicle can transport at least one individual from the respective starting point to the destination, based on the assignment.
In another example, one or more interconnected partially separated roads include a grade separated road.
In another example, at least two nearby cooperating vehicles are included in the system. The autonomous vehicle assigned is configured to work with nearby cooperative vehicles. At least two vehicles nearby are configured to work together. In addition, the operation of one of the two cooperating cars may be changed in response to the information received by the autonomous vehicle assigned.
In another example, an autonomous vehicle assigned to the task is configured to accept the information from a management software.
In another example, a vehicle that is assigned to autonomous driving receives information from another vehicle.
In another example, information may include the traffic flow, travel time, system capacity or wait time.
In another example, “the assigned autonomous vehicle” is configured to adjust the vehicle’s speed and headway as a response to an information set received from a management system or another car.
In another example, the management system can be configured to change at least one of the following: an operating state of one or more vehicles that are at least partially autonomous, a number of vehicles on one or multiple roads, and the quantity of passengers in a boarding area.
In another example, one or more vehicles that are at least partially automated can be configured in such a way that a group of vehicles travelling at the same speed along a sub-route will cooperate and operate in response to information about traffic flow received by one of those vehicles while they travel on the subroute.
In another example, a subset (or a portion) of the interconnected roads has sufficient width for multiple vehicles to travel simultaneously in the same directions. At least some of the vehicles in the set are also configured to travel at the same speed on the subset interconnected road.
In another example, a group of vehicles traveling simultaneously along a sub-route are configured in a shoal with reduced space between the vehicles.
In another example, the space separation between vehicles in a shoal can be adjusted to allow another vehicle to join a trunk-line.
In another example, a set of vehicles traveling simultaneously along a sub-route are configured to travel as a first and second shoal. One or more vehicles of the first shoal can be configured to adjust the space separations of one or more vehicles of the second shoal in order to create more space for another vehicle in a trunkline.
In another example, in response to receiving the request the management system will provide at least one approximate route to the vehicle assigned, from the respective starting point to the destination. The assigned vehicle can also be configured to choose, by default one of the approximate target routes, and to then travel along that selected approximate route from the starting point to the destination.
In another example, at least a segment of the approximate target route is comprised of the start, merge cruise, demerge and stop segments. The management system can be configured to give the vehicle assigned for that segment at least a vehicle’s profile, parameters and properties.
In another example, a management system may include a plurality area controllers with each one having a geographical area assigned or associated to the system. A first one of a plurality of area controllers can be configured to sense road conditions and relay the information related to the road conditions to vehicles traveling within the assigned or associated geographic area of the first area control.
In another example, the first area controller in a plurality of area control systems is configured to transmit information about the road conditions to at least one additional area controller.
In another example, two or more of the assigned and/or related geographic areas overlap.
In another example, vehicles are configured to maintain a continuous flow of traffic on the roads based at the least in part on information received from at least one area controller.
In another example, some area controllers may be configured to provide targets for vehicles to help coordinate the flow of vehicles through an inter-vehicle gap.
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