Cost effectiveness of automated highway systems: a case study in engineering economic analysis of a new technology.: An article from: Engineering Economist

This digital document is an article from Engineering Economist, published by Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE) on June 22, 1996. The length of the article is 8261 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: In 1994, the United States Federal Highway Administration funded a consortium of companies and universities to research and develop automated highway systems (AHS). If carried to completion, an AHS would enable vehicles to travel on limited access highways under full automation. This paper reports on a study completed as part of the FHWA's Precursor Systems Analyses (PSA) program, to assess costs and benefits of AHS. The paper presents the framework for the evaluation of alternative AHS deployment concepts, with respect to life-cycle costs and cost effectiveness. This framework was applied to a range of scenarios on both a highway and national basis. Specific features include: (1) phased approach to AHS deployment, (2) original cost estimates for both the vehicle and infrastructure, under a range of operating scenarios, and (3) extrapolation of results to a national scale, to account for market penetrations and scale economies. While the work is still preliminary in the sense that costs and benefits are highly uncertain, it provides a methodology that can be customized as the technologies are refined. In this regard, the paper provides a significant case study on the application of engineering economy methods to development of complex new technologies.

Citation Details
Title: Cost effectiveness of automated highway systems: a case study in engineering economic analysis of a new technology.
Author: Randolph W. Hall
Publication:Engineering Economist (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1996
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
Volume: v41 Issue: n4 Page: p317(27)

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