Automated highway

[NormannTheDoorman]

I came up with this idea while I was in the UK. Sitting there eating crumpets, I thought to myself, "Why dont we use supersonic jets for transatlantic travel instead of these mach .8 jets". And I also thought of why dont we have faster more fuel efficient cars?

So I came up with this idea. Automated highways.

Lets start.

The highway itself is like a Maglev train track. So that makes the cars move at high speeds and reduce gas usage.
That's the main point.
But what makes it automatic? It is a smart highway. It can control the traffic itself.
Lets say you enter at entrance A. But you want to exit at exit G. You would type that into the cars navigational computer. The highway will make sure that you get off at that point. (this is not detailed but just the general idea) The magnets will slow you down and others down just enough so you can transition into the exit lane without crashing.

Lets expand on this. This is just the general idea, I haven't gotten that far into it yet. I only posted this so people with something similar can share with everybody else.

Expand, post your idea of a automated highway system.

 

[nanook]

how about flying crumpets, that come to you, whenever you want some
might reduce commuting.

i'd like a system with railed taxi like public cabins (meaning you can call one, when you need one), small enough to be used by just one person though, but having place enough for four people, that can be joined into fast trains, when needed/possible, but also leave a train formation and go to distinct places alone, so you can keep your cabin for a whole day or so (store stuff inside of it). some friction reduction should be possible with rails.

 

[NormannTheDoorman]

Flying crumpets. Quite interesting actually. So your saying a system of 1 man pods that travel around?

 

[nanook]

i didn't mean it too literal, the broader idea that made me say that is that i believe we will have less commuting in a society where a) most of shopping, including shopping of fast-food, will be "ordering" b) more work will be done at home or c) more living will be done at public/work places. having less commuting gives you a different perspective on how person-transportation should be achieved, optimally.

 

[NormannTheDoorman]

I might as well bump this. First thread I made.

 

[walfin]

I came up with this idea while I was in the UK. Sitting there eating crumpets, I thought to myself, "Why dont we use supersonic jets for transatlantic travel instead of these mach .8 jets". And I also thought of why dont we have faster more fuel efficient cars?

So I came up with this idea. Automated highways.

Lets start.

The highway itself is like a Maglev train track. So that makes the cars move at high speeds and reduce gas usage.
That's the main point.
But what makes it automatic? It is a smart highway. It can control the traffic itself.
Lets say you enter at entrance A. But you want to exit at exit G. You would type that into the cars navigational computer. The highway will make sure that you get off at that point. (this is not detailed but just the general idea) The magnets will slow you down and others down just enough so you can transition into the exit lane without crashing.

Lets expand on this. This is just the general idea, I haven't gotten that far into it yet. I only posted this so people with something similar can share with everybody else.

Expand, post your idea of a automated highway system.

Uh, in that case, why not simply have more and better train tracks?

I'd support the development of better standards for Maglev; part of the reason why Maglev trains are not as widely used as you would expect them to be is that there aren't standard parts which makes maintenance costly.

I'd go for a sort of train-taxi too: you get into a private train cabin, key in your destination, and it brings you to your destination without having to wait to change trains. Mini train cars that can detach from each other at intersections.

There are also already robotically driven cars, in pilot tests now.

 

[Methodician]

I actually thought a lot about exactly this a few years ago (not to toot my own horn, it's a great idea and I'm sure just as original to you as it was to me)... But I came up with a few limiting factors.

Assuming you're talking about what I was thinking about: replacing paved roads in major cities with an electromagnetic system, and putting a bunch of magnetic hover-cars (or something like that) in the city for public usage... powered by the road itself (awesome, no need to carry fuel or stop for gas!) The main constraint is infrastructure cost. It's expensive as it is just paving roads with cheap tar and sand (oversimplified I know)... Imagine the cost of, even limited to the inner city, replacing entire roads with a powered magnetic system...

Once you get past all that though, it'd sure make day-to-day transportation way safer, quicker, and more efficient. The marginal cost of transportation would go way down but the initial cost would be pretty prohibitive. In addition to laying down the road infrastructure, you gotta build a bunch of automated electromagnetic transportation pods for the city. The idea of extending this beyond inner-city is even more prohibitive.

Maybe some day we'll have the manufacturing technologies to create such infrastructure on the cheap. I'd wager that's at least 20 years away and more likely 80-100 years...