:Auto Auto!
The 2004 Toyota Prius was offered with an automatic parallel parking option that costs $1980. I asked myself, If the vehicle has a built in servo system to control the accelerator and wheels to perform a parallel park maneuver what else would be needed to produce an auto which could drive cross town, state or country? The US Navy has developed a GPS based automated landing system for its carrier based aircraft. Boeing has tested a commercial grade GPS based landing system on a B-737 which has proven accurate to with 6 feet of the planned touch down point on a runway.
Suppose we enlist the support of the high tech industries and schools in the DFW area. We ask them to deliver a system for $1980, which would address the whole commute issue. I’m not a traffic engineer but isn’t routing packets on the Internet and automobiles on North Central the same thing? Could the likes of Texas Instruments, Cisco Systems, Alcatel, Northern Telecom and other Telecom corridor enterprises build the necessary control system for the automobiles and design the network architecture for the DFW highway network? Would the same GPS that provides precision guidance for bombs deliver our cars to our work destination? Would the MapQuest driving instructions be the basis for automatic automobile control systems? Would our Engineering schools at SMU, TCU, UTD and all those other characters, (no not the engineers!), lead the way?
The cell phone system already tracks our cell phones. GPS location finding capabilities are existent. A fully automated traffic light system with school zones and other situations properly addressed would speed up our commutes. If the DFW area decided to produce such a system and test and debug it in the local area would we create jobs? When successful, would we own a system that could be sold to other cities around the world? Would we create additional jobs and wealth for the Metroplex? I repeat, the Metroplex has the engineering, communications and aerospace companies which can produce a real 21st Century transportation system. It would be efficient and effective! Heck, we might also build a Metroplex commute vehicle which carries two people, the minimum of cargo and gets extraordinary gas mileage. It might look like a 1960 MG Midget and we would export that vehicle along with the transportation control system. I have been accused of being a dreamer! But I can dream can’t I?
Everyone would have to be in the automated vehicles and not be able to control the vehicle. Too many times during my commute do I see people whip across lanes where there isn’t room, causing people behind to slam their brakes to avoid the collision.
This then becomes very similar to public transportation, which really sucks.
Here’s your falacy.
An aircraft runway has constant communciations going on, telling of arrivals, departures and taxi status. This is communicated and controlled, through levels of software and overseen by human beings. The airport also has a fence around it. We don’t have deers, cattle, little old ladies or drunk drivers on our runways.
A road has no communications, so while your theory of navigating across the city sound great, what happens when you have a kid on a bicycle tip over? Or a deer wanders on the road? A car has a flat tire? Granny crosses the street at a random spot? Little kid chases the ball onto the street?
Splat. The great thing about humans, is that we can react quickly, and most of the time our reaction is timely and intelligent - thus more often than not, we avoid accidents.
This is why, despite the technology to land these aircraft safely exists - it exists as an emergency backup measure only. Every aircraft in the world, that carries humans, has a human as a pilot. The pilot alone assumes control of the aircraft upon both take-off and especially during landing.
So, while the theory sounds great - real life is a great deal more complex.