Automated road transportation system
First Claim
1. An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:
- a roadway;
a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway;
a vehicle on the roadway;
means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail;
sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal;
control means in said vehicle for continuously steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway;
a plurality of control marker means for conveying coded information signals to said vehicle embedded along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail and spaced apart at various positions and wherein said coded information signals emitted from said roadway control marker means include roadway identification, position and a prescribed primary vehicle speed profile;
sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded information signals received from said control marker means for controlling said vehicle;
decoding circuitry means on said vehicle for decoding said coded information signals received from said control marker means;
means for conveying said control information to a microprocessor on the vehicle;
clock means connected electronically to said vehicle microprocessor;
speed sensor means in said vehicle for determining said vehicle'"'"'s actual speed profile;
odometer sensing means connected electronically to said microprocessor whereby the distance traveled by said vehicle between two points or between two clock times can be determined; and
speed control means in said vehicle connected to the speed sensor means for adjusting said vehicle'"'"'s actual speed to match said vehicle'"'"'s prescribed speed profile received from said control marker means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automated transportation system for vehicular travel along a roadway is presented. The roadway can be any hard surface that contains an embedded metallic guiderail along its center. A proximity transducer (metal detector) installed under the vehicle, senses the metallic guiderail and sends steering commands to the vehicle'"'"'s steering actuators to keep the vehicle moving in the center of the roadway directly over the guiderail. Transponders are embedded along the guiderail at selected points for automatic roadway identification, position determination and automatic speed, headway and route selection and automatic traffic control. The system also provides automatic branching and lane changing. The vehicle'"'"'s control system includes sensors, signal processors, a microprocessor and various power actuators that are connected to the vehicle'"'"'s steering, braking and accelerator systems. An on-board collision avoidance system using sonic or radar detection means is also provided. The vehicle can be programmed to automatically follow a pre-selected route by inserting route instructions into the microprocessor'"'"'s memory where it can be retrieved and used any number of times. Magnetometer sensors are also embedded along the roadway to detect the presence and speed of all vehicles, thereby allowing ordinary, manually-controlled vehicles to use the same roadways as the automatically controlled vehicles for a mixed traffic flow. The guiderails and transponders can be embedded in essentially all existing streets and highways to provide an economical comprehensive fully automated road transportation system for private and commercial vehicles.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:
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a roadway; a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on the roadway; means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal; control means in said vehicle for continuously steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway; a plurality of control marker means for conveying coded information signals to said vehicle embedded along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail and spaced apart at various positions and wherein said coded information signals emitted from said roadway control marker means include roadway identification, position and a prescribed primary vehicle speed profile; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded information signals received from said control marker means for controlling said vehicle; decoding circuitry means on said vehicle for decoding said coded information signals received from said control marker means; means for conveying said control information to a microprocessor on the vehicle; clock means connected electronically to said vehicle microprocessor; speed sensor means in said vehicle for determining said vehicle'"'"'s actual speed profile; odometer sensing means connected electronically to said microprocessor whereby the distance traveled by said vehicle between two points or between two clock times can be determined; and speed control means in said vehicle connected to the speed sensor means for adjusting said vehicle'"'"'s actual speed to match said vehicle'"'"'s prescribed speed profile received from said control marker means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An automated road transportation system comprising:
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a roadway; a metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on the roadway; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said guiderail for emitting a steering signal upon detecting the proximity of said guiderail; control means in said vehicle for steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway; a plurality of spaced apart control marker means embedded along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail for conveying coded control signals to said vehicle, said roadway control marker means including roadway identification, position and a prescribed primary vehicle speed profile; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded control signals received from said control marker means; decoding circuitry means on said vehicle for decoding said coded control signals received from said control marker means; speed control means in said vehicle for adjusting said vehicle'"'"'s actual speed to match and maintain said vehicle'"'"'s prescribed speed profile received from said control marker means; sensor means mounted within at least a portion of said control marker means responsive to the passage of said vehicle; a microprocessor mounted within said control marker means adapted to monitor and control said coded speed profile signals emitted by said control marker means; clock means within said marker means that coacts in combination with said marker vehicle sensing means and said marker microprocessor whereby the vehicle'"'"'s actual speed is computed and stored inside said marker microprocessor along with its time of passage, representing said vehicle'"'"'s trajectory; and said marker microprocessor adapted to generate safe speed profile control commands using said trajectory data that are transmitted by said marker means to any following vehicle so as to avoid possible rear-ending collisions. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:
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a roadway; a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on the roadway; means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal; control means in said vehicle for continuously steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway; a plurality of control marker means for conveying coded information signals to said vehicle embedded along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail and spaced apart at various positions and wherein said coded information signals emitted from said roadway control marker means include roadway identification, position and a prescribed primary vehicle speed profile; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded information signals received from said control marker means for controlling said vehicle; and
whereinsaid control marker means comprises a left marker means and a right marker means embedded on each side of said guiderail means and adapted to emit identical signals and wherein said onboard control marker sensor means comprises a left sensor means responsive to said left marker means and a right sensor means responsive to said right marker means; and
further comprisinga comparator means for comparing the control marker signals received by each sensor to ensure that they are identical before executing control of said vehicle in response to such signals.
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37. An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:
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a roadway; a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on the roadway; means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal; control means in said vehicle for continuously steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway; a plurality of control marker means for conveying coded information signals to said vehicle; and sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded information signals received from said control marker means for controlling said vehicle; and
whereinsuch a control marker means is a passive transponder adapted to transmit the same signal to each passing vehicle comprising; a plurality of metallic elements having a selected size and shape and arranged in a selected geometric arrangement so that when stimulated by an external field emanating from a passing vehicle the metallic elements generate a distinctive reaction field representing a coded control signal.
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38. An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:
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a roadway; guide means extending longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on the roadway; means on the vehicle for sensing and following such guide means; a plurality of control marker means along said roadway for conveying coded control signals to said vehicle; means on the vehicle responsive to said coded control signals for controlling said vehicle; and
whereineach such control marker means comprises a pair of marker means adjacent such guide means, each of such a pair of marker means being adapted to emit identical signals and further comprising; means on said vehicle for sensing signals from each of such a pair of marker means and comparator means for comparing such signals to insure that they are identical for avoiding spurious control signals. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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40. An automatic guidance system for a self-propelled passenger carrying, ground transportation vehicle comprising:
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a roadway; a metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on said roadway; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said guiderail for emitting a steering signal upon detecting the proximity of said guiderail; and control means inside said vehicle adapted to continuously steer said vehicle is response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway; a plurality of control marker means embedded at spaced apart intervals along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail for conveying coded speed control signals to said vehicle; and means mounted on board said vehicle responsive to said control signals for controlling speed of said vehicle; and
whereinsuch a control marker means is a passive transponder adapted to transmit the same control signals to each passing vehicle comprising; a plurality of metallic elements having a selected size and shape and arranged in a selected geometric order relative to each other such that when stimulated by an external field emanating from a passing vehicle the metallic elements generate a distinctive reaction field representing said coded control signals.
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41. An automatic guidance system for a self-propelled passenger carrying, ground transportation vehicle comprising:
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a roadway; a metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on said roadway; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said guiderail for emitting a steering signal upon detecting the proximity of said guiderail; and control means inside said vehicle adapted to continuously steer said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway; a plurality of control marker means along such roadway for conveying coded control signals to said vehicle; control marker sensor means mounted on board said vehicle responsive to said control signals; and
whereinsaid control marker means comprises a left marker means and a right marker means embedded on each side of said guiderail means and adapted to emit identical signals, and wherein said on board control marker sensor means comprises a left sensor means responsive to said left marker means and a right sensor means responsive to said right marker means; and
further comprising a comparator means for comparing the control marker signals received by each sensor means to ensure that they are identical for avoiding spurious signals. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method for automatically guiding a vehicle along a roadway including guide means extending longitudinally along said roadway comprising the steps of:
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emitting a signal from the vehicle towards such guide means; detecting a return signal from said guide means; coupling said return signal to control means for continuously steering the vehicle in response to said return signal for maintaining said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guide means; uniquely identifying each of two branching roadways by branching control marker means located on such roadway spaced apart from the branching roadways for emitting fixed coded branching information, each of said branching roadways including guide means extending longitudinally along such branching roadway; sensing coded branching information from such branching control marker means; directing said vehicle along a selected guide means on a branching roadway in response to the sensed coded branching information; emitting a prescribed vehicle speed profile from control marker means on the roadway adjacent the guide means; adjusting the vehicle'"'"'s actual speed profile to match the prescribed speed profile associated with an adjacent control marker means; sensing the passage and trajectory of a vehicle passing such a branching control marker means; sensing the presence and trajectory of any other vehicles passing over a plurality of adjacent control marker means; generating a traffic trajectory ephemeris corresponding to any vehicles moving in the vicinity of such branching roadways; and using said traffic trajectory ephemeris for computing collision-avoidance speed profile commands emitted by said branching control marker means so that the vehicle passing over said branching control marker means receives speed profile commands for allowing said vehicle to proceed onto the selected branch without colliding with other vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (48)
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49. An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:
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a roadway; a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway; a vehicle on the roadway; means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail; sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal, wherein the mass per unit length of the guiderail is sufficiently larger than reinforcement rods in such roadway for supressing distortions of such return signal by such reinforcement rods; and control means in said vehicle for steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway.
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Specification