Automated transport systems for sustainable urban mobility

The thesis has as a general aim to analyse if and to what extent automated urban transport systems (AUTS) can provide more sustainable mobility in urban areas. AUTS is defined as a transport system with the following properties. AUTS consist of a fleet of road vehicles with fully automated driving capabilities for passenger transport on a network of roads with on-demand and door-to-door capability. The vehicle fleet is under control of a central management system in order to meet a particular demand in a particular environment. Key Findings are that various related systems and technologies which provide one or more of the functionalities of AUTS have proven to be feasible and to provide some of the benefits anticipated for AUTS. A number of early AUTS applications have already been used or tested since 1997; these systems have proven to be safe and reliable, but various perceived risks so far delayed a wider implementation. Users and stakeholders were able to envisage the potential of AUTS to improve urban mobility, but some concerns remained at this stage over technology being mature enough for systems in mixed traffic. After having used the system, public acceptance increased, as due to the innovative characteristics of AUTS, users who had no direct experience with the system before, developed a different attitude. AUTS vehicle performance parameters including acceleration, deceleration, and jerk are below benchmark values for comparable systems in terms of comfort and safety levels for passengers. AUTS as part of the multi-modal public transport system and with accompanying measures can improve .network efficiency and reduce travel times. The research has shown that there is large potential for AUTS to provide more sustainable mobility in urban areas. But a number of implementation barriers have been identified, which so far have hindered a more widespread and large-scale implementation of AUTS. Future work in this field therefore has to address these issues and to develop means to overcome these barriers in order to realise the potentials of AUTS. Furthermore sensor technologies and robotics algorithms have to be further improved, and new vehicle, infrastructure and operational concepts have to be developed for larger and more advanced systems.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo