Orthogonal Capability Building Blocks for Flexible AHS Deployment

Once a baseline level of full automation is possible for an Automated Highway System, there are numerous choices to be made in deploying enhanced capabilities to improve safety, throughput, and travel time. Identifying a set of orthogonal capabilities enables describing multiple deployment paths within a common framework. Sixteen AHS configurations can be formed from a proposed set of orthogonal capabilities including: number of vehicles grouped into an entity (free agent vs. platoon), number of automated lanes (single or multiple), obstacle strategy (exclusion or detection), and system vigilance (trusting or vigilant). This systematic approach reveals a maximally enhanced end-state configuration: a platooned, multi-lane, obstacle detecting, vigilant AHS that could be attained using any of 24 incremental deployment paths. A mapping technique is presented that can assist in risk management by depicting alternative deployment paths and constraints within a single framework.