A Snowplow Steering Guidance System Using Roadway Markers - Problem Formulation and Solution Concept

Acquisition and utilization of lateral guidance information is crucial for steering a vehicle. With practice, human drivers have performed this function quite successfully using visual perception and hand -eye coordination. However, this seemingly simple task becomes difficult when the visual information loses its clarity. Driving a snowplow during whiteout conditions is one such example. In order to improve the safety and efficiency of the snow removal operation, a supplemental guidance display was proposed and instrumented in a Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) snowplow. The guidance information was calculated based on the magnetic markers embedded in the roadway. Operations for the steering guidance system were successfully conducted on a 6.25 km freeway over Donner Summit on Interstate 80 in California during the 1998-1999 winter season. The key to this success was a transformation of the guidance display problem into a control problem. This paper describes the problem formulation and the solution concept for this steering guidance system.     

Automatic Steering Based on Roadway Markers: From Highway Driving to Precision Docking

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is an effective alternative for providing rail-like corridor transit service. An advanced BRT concept involves the use of automated buses to provide functions of a rail transit system. A vehicle under automatic steering control following a prescribed trajectory is operated like a train on a rail. A lateral position sensing that uses roadway markers, such as magnetic markers embedded under the roadway, as lateral reference is one of the promising approaches for a reliable sensing system. The BRT concept requires the steering control system to consistently perform all necessary steering functions from high speed driving to low speed precision docking. This paper describes a single steering controller that achieves all performance objectives. Various data collected during several public demonstrations are presented in this paper to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach. These data include the following automatic steering control scenarios: over 100 mph high-speed driving, high-g maneuvers, sharp curve following, and low speed precision docking.     

Snowplow Steering Guidance with Gain Stabilization

Acquisition and utilization of lateral guidance information is crucial for steering a vehicle. With practice, drivers can successfully perform the steering function using visual perception and hand-eye coordination. However, this seemingly simple task becomes difficult when the visual information loses its clarity. Driving a snowplow during whiteout conditions is one such example. In order to improve the safety and efficiency of snow removal operations, a supplemental guidance display was proposed and successfully implemented in a California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) snowplow. The guidance information was calculated based on the magnetic markers embedded in the roadway. The crucial step to this success is a transformation of the guidance display problem into a robust driver-in-the-loop control problem. This transformation considers the 'display' law as part of the overall driver-steering-control algorithm. Two key 'assumptions' for this design are (1) the 'display' law should be designed in such a way that drivers can use 'proportional' control gain alone to satisfy the performance and stability requirements of the steering tasks, and (2) the driver steering model can be described as a combination of gain and dynamic delay under the display law in (1). This paper describes the validation process for the 'gain' stabilization design concept as well as the associated driver steering model using the initial snowplow test data.     

E-bikes among older adults: benefits,disadvantages, usage and crash characteristics

Transportation - The promotion of sustainable and healthy mobility among older adults (≥?65 years) is an important challenge. E-bikes may be part of the solution, but research...