Citation

Suganuma N. IATSS Res. 2019; 43(4): 242-243.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.iatssr.2019.11.010

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent trends in the development of autonomous vehicles (sometimes called "self-driving cars") have attracted significant attention. In addition to making travel safer and more comfortable, autonomous vehicles can be viewed as a new form of transport with enormous potential to transform public infrastructure. To deploy these autonomous vehicles in society in an appropriate way, we need to look beyond the technological development of autonomous vehicles, and consider development in a wide range of other areas including appropriate legislation, social acceptance, and MaaS (mobility as a service).

Research and development aimed at the deployment of autonomous vehicles on roads and highways has been pursued in various forms for many decades. In Europe, for example, researchers in the 1980s developed an automobile capable of autonomous driving on highways using image processing to sense its environment in all directions (the PROMETHEUS project). In the USA, researchers in the 1990s conducted a platooning experiment of multiple passenger cars for the purpose of increasing road traffic capacity and eliminate congestion in San Diego, California (the California PATH Project). In Japan as well, the former Ministry of Construction conducted research and development in the 1990s that included a demonstration of a platooning of autonomous passenger cars on an unopened section of the Joshinetsu Expressway...

Language: en