A Survey of Wireless Communications Technologies for Automated Vehicle Control

Automated control of passenger vehicles is one promising method of increasing traffic density and efficiency on existing highways. Most schemes will require extensive use of wireless communication for coordination of maneuvers, stable control, safety, traffic advisories, navigation, and fault control. This survey examines existing wireless technologies to determine appropriateness for control (communication between pairs of closely spaced vehicles), maneuver (communication among groups of vehicles), and advisory (communication between vehicles and a central, stationary database) functions. Specific examples are taken from work done in the California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) program. This program envisions closely spaced, train-like groups of one to twenty automated vehicles in special lanes separated from non-automated vehicles by barriers. Gaps between vehicles within a group would be less than two meters, bumper-to-bumper. Gaps between groups in the same lane would be over 50 meters. In this context, the control function is to maintain stability and good ride quality among the vehicles in a group; the maneuver function is for a vehicle to join or leave a group; and the advisory function is to inform the groups about conditions ahead.