Automated road transportation system

An automated road transportation system comprising:

• a roadway;
• a metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway;
• a vehicle on the roadway;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said guiderail for emitting a steering signal upon detecting the proximity of said guiderail;
• control means in said vehicle for steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway;
• a plurality of spaced apart control marker means embedded along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail for conveying coded control signals to said vehicle, said roadway control marker means including roadway identification, position and a prescribed primary vehicle speed profile;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded control signals received from said control marker means;
• decoding circuitry means on said vehicle for decoding said coded control signals received from said control marker means;
• speed control means in said vehicle for adjusting said vehicle's actual speed to match and maintain said vehicle's prescribed speed profile received from said control marker means;
• sensor means mounted within at least a portion of said control marker means responsive to the passage of said vehicle;
• a microprocessor mounted within said control marker means adapted to monitor and control said coded speed profile signals emitted by said control marker means;
• clock means within said marker means that coacts in combination with said marker vehicle sensing means and said marker microprocessor whereby the vehicle's actual speed is computed and stored inside said marker microprocessor along with its time of passage, representing said vehicle's trajectory;
• and
• said marker microprocessor adapted to generate safe speed profile control commands using said trajectory data that are transmitted by said marker means to any following vehicle so as to avoid possible rear-ending collisions.

An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:

• a roadway;
• a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway;
• a vehicle on the roadway;
• means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal;
• control means in said vehicle for continuously steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway;
• a plurality of control marker means for conveying coded information signals to said vehicle embedded along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail and spaced apart at various positions and wherein said coded information signals emitted from said roadway control marker means include roadway identification, position and a prescribed primary vehicle speed profile;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded information signals received from said control marker means for controlling said vehicle;
• and wherein
• said control marker means comprises a left marker means and a right marker means embedded on each side of said guiderail means and adapted to emit identical signals and wherein said onboard control marker sensor means comprises a left sensor means responsive to said left marker means and a right sensor means responsive to said right marker means;
• and further comprising
• a comparator means for comparing the control marker signals received by each sensor to ensure that they are identical before executing control of said vehicle in response to such signals.

An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:

• a roadway;
• a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway;
• a vehicle on the roadway;
• means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal;
• control means in said vehicle for continuously steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway;
• a plurality of control marker means for conveying coded information signals to said vehicle;
• and
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said coded information signals received from said control marker means for controlling said vehicle;
• and wherein
• such a control marker means is a passive transponder adapted to transmit the same signal to each passing vehicle comprising:
• a plurality of metallic elements having a selected size and shape and arranged in a selected geometric arrangement so that when stimulated by an external field emanating from a passing vehicle the metallic elements generate a distinctive reaction field representing a coded control signal.

An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:

• a roadway;
• guide means extending longitudinally along said roadway;
• a vehicle on the roadway;
• means on the vehicle for sensing and following such guide means;
• a plurality of control marker means along said roadway for conveying coded control signals to said vehicle;
• means on the vehicle responsive to said coded control signals for controlling said vehicle;
• and wherein
• each such control marker means comprises a pair of marker means adjacent such guide means, each of such a pair of marker means being adapted to emit identical signals and further comprising:
• means on said vehicle for sensing signals from each of such a pair of marker means and comparator means for comparing such signals to insure that they are identical for avoiding spurious control signals.

An automatic guidance system for a self-propelled passenger carrying, ground transportation vehicle comprising:

• a roadway;
• a metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway;
• a vehicle on said roadway;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said guiderail for emitting a steering signal upon detecting the proximity of said guiderail;
• and
• control means inside said vehicle adapted to continuously steer said vehicle is response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway;
• a plurality of control marker means embedded at spaced apart intervals along said roadway adjacent to said guiderail for conveying coded speed control signals to said vehicle;
• and
• means mounted on board said vehicle responsive to said control signals for controlling speed of said vehicle;
• and wherein
• such a control marker means is a passive transponder adapted to transmit the same control signals to each passing vehicle comprising:
• a plurality of metallic elements having a selected size and shape and arranged in a selected geometric order relative to each other such that when stimulated by an external field emanating from a passing vehicle the metallic elements generate a distinctive reaction field representing said coded control signals.

An automatic guidance system for a self-propelled passenger carrying, ground transportation vehicle comprising:

• a roadway;
• a metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway;
• a vehicle on said roadway;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to said guiderail for emitting a steering signal upon detecting the proximity of said guiderail;
• and
• control means inside said vehicle adapted to continuously steer said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway;
• a plurality of control marker means along such roadway for conveying coded control signals to said vehicle;
• control marker sensor means mounted on board said vehicle responsive to said control signals;
• and wherein
• said control marker means comprises a left marker means and a right marker means embedded on each side of said guiderail means and adapted to emit identical signals, and wherein said on board control marker sensor means comprises a left sensor means responsive to said left marker means and a right sensor means responsive to said right marker means;
• and further comprising a comparator means for comparing the control marker signals received by each sensor means to ensure that they are identical for avoiding spurious signals.

A method for automatically guiding a vehicle along a roadway including guide means extending longitudinally along said roadway comprising the steps of:

• emitting a signal from the vehicle towards such guide means;
• detecting a return signal from said guide means;
• coupling said return signal to control means for continuously steering the vehicle in response to said return signal for maintaining said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guide means;
• uniquely identifying each of two branching roadways by branching control marker means located on such roadway spaced apart from the branching roadways for emitting fixed coded branching information, each of said branching roadways including guide means extending longitudinally along such branching roadway;
• sensing coded branching information from such branching control marker means;
• directing said vehicle along a selected guide means on a branching roadway in response to the sensed coded branching information;
• emitting a prescribed vehicle speed profile from control marker means on the roadway adjacent the guide means;
• adjusting the vehicle's actual speed profile to match the prescribed speed profile associated with an adjacent control marker means;
• sensing the passage and trajectory of a vehicle passing such a branching control marker means;
• sensing the presence and trajectory of any other vehicles passing over a plurality of adjacent control marker means;
• generating a traffic trajectory ephemeris corresponding to any vehicles moving in the vicinity of such branching roadways;
• and
• using said traffic trajectory ephemeris for computing collision-avoidance speed profile commands emitted by said branching control marker means so that the vehicle passing over said branching control marker means receives speed profile commands for allowing said vehicle to proceed onto the selected branch without colliding with other vehicles.

An automatic guidance system for passenger carrying road vehicles comprising:

• a roadway;
• a passive metallic guiderail embedded longitudinally along said roadway;
• a vehicle on the roadway;
• means on the vehicle for transmitting a signal from the vehicle toward the guiderail;
• sensor means mounted on said vehicle responsive to a return signal from said guiderail for emitting a steering signal in response to the return signal, wherein the mass per unit length of the guiderail is sufficiently larger than reinforcement rods in such roadway for supressing distortions of such return signal by such reinforcement rods;
• and
• control means in said vehicle for steering said vehicle in response to said steering signal from said sensor means so as to maintain said vehicle in a predetermined lateral position with respect to said guiderail as said vehicle moves along said roadway.