The daily commute to and from work, tedious errands and long drives will soon be more enjoyable, according to Alain Kornhauser GS '69, '71, an operations research and financial engineering professor.
Kornhauser — who serves as co-director of the Transportation Information and Decision Engineering Center, an organization that develops and researches systems for automated travel and conducts research for the technology — predicts that cars of the future will have more "intelligence," increasing driver and passenger safety, comfort and convenience.
These cars will have information systems that provide road maps, report traffic conditions and may even suggest driving routes, noted Kornhauser, who is also the founder of ALK Associates, a transportation technology firm.
Thus, for all those drivers who are easily frustrated on the road, avoiding traffic jams and finding shorter paths will becomes simpler tasks — even if the driver is already traveling.
"In terms of knowing what the traffic is ahead, [the technology] could suggest the right way to go, extending the vision on the road ahead," Kornhauser explained. "There's no reason why that can't be done given the bandwidth of communication and computer power."
Kornhauser added that this technology could be implemented within the next five years. "What's coming together is that the hardware is getting to be less expensive and more reliable," he said.
In addition to information technology, automated steering systems that recognize street edges and lanes are not far down the road, Kornhauser explained. With this technology, a person could feasibly turn his attention away from the wheel to concentrate on other things. Meanwhile, the computer would handle the steering.
The automated steering system will greatly improve driver safety, traffic congestion and passenger comfort and convenience, according to Kornhauser.
Kornhauser believes that all these innovations could become realities in the near future.
"There are a lot of better things we could be doing with our time than trying to stay between two white lines," he said. "[The system] operates a lot like cruise control, which takes away the monotonous and not demanding task of maintaining speed."
The technology for these systems is not very expensive, according to Kornhauser. Machine-vision systems with computer-image processing capabilities would be installed into the cars themselves rather than placing magnets underneath roads as others have suggested.
He noted that certain types of driving are more difficult than others and would require more advanced technology.
"Driving down a street like Nassau is a very intensive task with doors opening at any moment and people walking across the street," Kornhauser said. "But steering on a highway like I-95 is trivial."
Predictions
Kornhauser said some of his predictions would likely become reality within this decade. In addition, he believes that automated driving will exist by the year 2025.
Innovations that are already here include lane-departure alert systems, which will be available in the next model year for freight-liner trucks, he said. Kornhauser added that Chrysler is already putting the technology into its trucks. The system warns drivers with an audible beep when they change lanes without using the turn signal.
Kornhauser said he believes Mercedes and other luxury-car companies that focus on comfort will offer models that feature the technology within a few years. He cited Cadillacs — which featured "night vision" and offered luxury cars with air bags several years before they became popular — as examples of "class cars" that are often the first to incorporate new technology.
Some critics have challenged Korn-hauser's predictions, arguing that the technology will never catch on because it restricts the "freedom of the open road," which is appealing to many drivers and an essential aspect of American culture.
Kornhauser, however, disagrees.
"With this technology, you get the best of both worlds," Kornhauser said. "If you want to use it, you can. If you don't want to, you don't have to."
Kornhauser compared the option to e-mail. "The option is there, but you can still pick up a pencil and write a letter," he said.
"When I'm driving in the back hills of Pennsylvania, I may want to be in control," he added. "But the New Jersey Turnpike is not enjoyable. I'm just trying to get to Newark Airport, thank you."
TIDE Center
Kornhauser's organization — the Transportation Information and Decision Engineering Center, known as TIDE — is funded by the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. The center's research focuses on several specific applications, including parking and transit information, as well as technologies related to navigation, port management and trucking, logistics and freight management.
Kornhauser, who has two mechanical and aerospace engineering degrees from the Graduate College, said his experience at the TIDE Center has provided him with a sense of both what is possible and how much work will be required to achieve it.
"The focus [of the TIDE Center] is on trying to come up with tools that allow individuals to make better decisions about everyday things," Kornhauser said. "The objective is how does one really then use the vast amount of information."
Kornhauser added that the center — which collaborates with Rutgers University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, in addition to Princeton — examines better ways to make driving decisions such as which route to take and where to park.
"These things may seem slightly mundane, but they are important," he said.
"We are doing research in terms of matching algorithms and detour alternate routing algorithms," Kornhauser explained.
The center also is exploring the possibility of using video images to help drivers find the shortest routes and parking spaces once they arrive at their destinations.
"In the short run, there will not be real-time information available about all the roads, so we are trying to find alternatives," Kornhauser said. "We are also trying to use image processing to determine the availability of parking spaces because you'd like to set up a camera and that feeds into a computer, which then [loads the information] onto a Website, which can be accessed by anyone."
Automated transit
In the 1970s, Kornhauser helped develop software tools for an automated transit system that he believed would compete with automobile transport. The system involved 46-passenger cars on running guideways that provided direct transport without intermediate stops, Kornhauser said, adding that vehicles would then be allowed to run close together.
The transit system never materialized, however, because problems arose about the location of such guideways. "We could either have them above ground on elevated guideways [similar to monorails] which were unaesthetic or put them underground which was very expensive," Kornhauser said.
Kornhauser is teaching ORF 401: Electronic Commerce this semester, a course about "programming for e-commerce applications." He also planned to teach a course related to his recent research, ORF 467/WWS 528b: Transportation Systems Planning and Policy Analysis. The course was cancelled, however, because enrollment was too low, Kornhauser said, adding that the course will likely be offered again next year.
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