Mass Transit-A Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Highway

With the advent of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV), we can envision a mass transit system, the CAV highway (CAVWAY), that builds upon existing networks of highways and freeways. The CAVWAY would be regulated and operated by a public agency, such as Caltrans in the state of California. Passengers could travel on the CAVWAY in their own autonomous vehicles or in autonomous commercial buses or taxis. Vehicle standards and tolerances, set by the state, for sensing, communicating, controlling velocity, and planning routes, to assure safe speeds and spacing, would be enforced through certification. A central control system would support passenger and vehicle reservations, load detection and balancing, and emergency response. A simulation is being developed in Python to expose system requirements, characterize design alternatives and decisions, and validate the concept.