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At their meeting February 9 - 10, 2017 in Las Vegas the American Society of Civil Engineers APM Standards Committee took the significant step of accepting ATRA's request to do away with the "Brick Wall" stopping requirement and replace it with something more acceptable to modern automated vehicles. This requirement originated from the railroad industry and essentially limits reducing headways (time between vehicles) below about 3 seconds at 30 mph. Furthermore, headways get even higher at higher speeds.
Gene Nishinaga, who assisted in getting the change accepted, says his company, Transit Control Solutions, is developing control software that can achieve headways as low as one second at 60 mph if compliance with the "Brick Wall" criterion is removed. This effectively trebles capacity at double the speed.
This change helps put driverless transit on a par with driverless cars. However, the change has to be put out for full-committee ballot and public comment before it can be officially adopted. If adopted, it will be included in the 2018 edition of the APM Standards.
You are invited to attend an ATRA Board meeting by telephone on Thursday, February 23rd 2017 from 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. To call toll-free from the US, Canada or Mexico dial +1-866-676-8817. Conference ID number 61223122. Email [email protected] for additional numbers.
As always, enjoy reading!
Best regards,
Peter Muller, P.E., ATRA President
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 SMRT teams up with NTU, JTC to collaborate on transport research
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 skyTran to build pod car pilot project in India at own cost
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 Virginia Beach residents weigh in on transportation options post-light rail
Virginia Beach City Council will soon set goals for the future of public transportation in the city, but first it heard what locals and visitors from neighboring cities had to say. Read more...
 India, Three Companies Approved to Test Driverless Pods
India, Three Companies Approved to Test Driverless Pods: The National Institution for Transforming India, established by the Narendra Modi government on 1 January 2015 and better known as NITI Aayog, has approved testing of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems for a 13 km long project from the Gurugram-Delhi border to Badshahpur Mod. Read more...
 Niti Aayog clears testing of NASA skyTran's futuristic pod cars
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AEM Announces 'Build' Phase Finalists in Infrastructure Competition
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 Pod taxi dream sold, reality poses big hurdle
NEW DELHI: Introduction of driverless pod taxis to ferry passengers within cities and for inter-city movement will take longer. Niti Aayog, which recently went through presentations by three major players that had bid for a pilot in Gurugram, has suggested that each of them can build a 1km stretch each to test the technology at their own cost, sources said. Read more...
 Three times faster than flights: Hyperloop can do Delhi-Mumbai in 70 mins
Travel from Delhi to Mumbai can become less than a third -to 70 minutes - of what it takes in a flight, at costs cheaper than flight tickets.
The mode of transport is called a Hyperloop, a concept that was drawn maverick Tesla CEO and chief architect, Elon Musk on a white paper in 2013.
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 Amid Hyperloop hype, Bengaluru lines up own big-ticket mobility projects
Bengaluru to Chennai in just 30 minutes? That is what Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles-based high-speed transport technology firm, has proposed for India. The Bengaluru-Chennai route is among 35 global routes where possible trials of Hyperloop -an airline-speed travel concept mooted by tech tycoon Elon Musk -could happen.
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 Subways and Pods: What Denver's Transit System Could Have Been
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 Government Plans to Turn Sejong into "Self-Driving City"
SEJONG, Jan. 10 (Korea Bizwire) - Sejong, South Korea's de facto administrative capital, will become the world's first city dedicated to self-driving vehicles. Read more...
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The above links are to articles that appear relevant to advanced transit but no guarantee is made as to their accuracy and no verification of the integrity of the associated websites has been made.
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