ALL OF US HAVE FOUND OURSELVES SITTING IN TRAFFIC THINKing there must be a better way to travel than inching along staring at the
bumper in front of us.
With populations increasing and migrating to cities, the problems
brought on by traffic congestion are only getting worse. Last year, auto
and truck drivers in North America logged an all-time high of 3. 2 trillion
miles, much of that in traffic. Congestion wastes some 2 billion gallons of
fuel annually. It adds to pollution, raises the risk of accidents, and increases insurance rates for cars and trucks alike.
According to Inrix Research, congestion on our roads last year cost
Americans $305 billion. That’s $10 million more than
the price tag in 2016. If you live in Los Angeles, New
York City, San Francisco, Atlanta, or Miami, you know
firsthand what it’s like to sit in traffic. Those are five
of the 10 cities with the worst traffic congestion in the
entire world.
Of course, trucks must also travel in that traffic.
With about 12 million trucks on U.S. roads, congestion causes an estimated 996 million hours of delay
in moving our goods annually, according to financial
services specialist Express Freight Finance.
Distribution trends also contribute to congestion. As
companies move their DCs closer to population centers to reach customers faster, their goods must move
on the same overburdened roads.
So, is there a better way? I think the answers lie in automated vehicles
and wired networks.
Imagine a system where traffic flow is controlled automatically. Cars talk
to a central network that routes them to their destination along the most
efficient and direct travel path. Sensors in the roadways exchange data
with each vehicle to aid in regulating travel.
The cars would also network with each other, so that they can adjust
speed, make turns, and travel with much less distance between them than
would be possible with manually operated cars. Traffic would flow seamlessly, with very few stops.
Yes, I realize there will be pushback from drivers who do not want to
turn over control of their vehicles to computers. Yet we have landed airplanes for years by computers. Our railroads are now being equipped with
Positive Train Control technology to regulate their speed and positioning.
The same can happen for our highways.
I wonder how far we could get if we were able to take some of that $305
billion we waste annually sitting in traffic and invest it in technology that
has the potential to save lives, time, and fuel, while making our overwhelmed infrastructure vastly more productive.
bigpicture
Editorial Director
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