Robotics and Road Transportation: A Review

摘要

In this paper a critical review of road infrastructure and vehicle robotic technologies is presented. It is found that many infrastructure-related robotic technologies have not reached the implementation stage, which is attributed to reliability concerns as such technologies involve high risk operations such as crack sealing. However, that the greatest effort to robotize operations in road transportation has been aimed at getting driver assisted and autonomous vehicles. The use of a crash avoidance system to prevent the impact of a double tractor-semitrailer truck onto a scholar bus is further analyzed, finding that a longitudinal crash-avoidance robotic system might have saved as many as seven lives. It is found that the main limitation of autonomous vehicles has to do with their ability to recognize atypical road irregularities that might endanger driving.