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We know that the existing urban transport systems based on the private vehicle (necessarily relying mostly on fossil fuels) are not sustainable in terms of energy and land needs. On the other hand, public transportation systems are also not very efficient and do not provide a good service anywhere and anytime. Over the last twenty years, a new concept has emerged through strong cooperation between researchers, automotive companies, suppliers and transit operators. It is the concept of co-modal systems. This means well-designed systems that will combine the use of various transportation modes and in particular the individual vehicles and the mass transit systems. A key element of such a system is the Cybernetic Transportation Systems (CTS), which are based on fully automated urban vehicles. This paper will present these CTS and how they have emerged through a European collaborative approach.

The concept of the automated highway has been around for several decades. However, even if the technology has much progressed and has been demonstrated recently in quite elaborate forms, it is still unclear how it can be deployed realistically. The manufacturers now seem to propose a very gradual approach through the introduction of driving aids such as active trajectory control (ABS and ESP), adaptive cruise control (ACC), collision warning and vigilance monitoring. Here, we take the stand that a more disruptive process can take place with fully automated vehicles deployed locally as a public transport system based on individual vehicles. These vehicles would use dedicated road tracks, more or less protected from the intrusion of other vehicles. Later in the process of deployment of these dedicated roads, they could be made available to private vehicles equipped with driving automation.

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) techniques are now being put on the market as a safety and comfort feature. These ACC actually do not work at low speed, mostly because of limitations of the radar sensors being used. Using simple optical sensors, INRIA has demonstrated that it is possible to implement ACC in Stop&Go mode. Renault and other partners involved in the Urban Drive Control European project also implemented Stop&Go using radar and lidar sensors. This mode which could also include lateral control would be more useful to the driver faced with recurrent congestion. Detailed simulations which include the control algorithm of this ACC mode try to assess the impact of such systems on traffic flow.