| Congestion issues are currently solved by road building, and a lot of separate measures. In the near future the prizing of kilometres will be a new instrument, as well as the aspect of better use of the roads, to increase the capacity and the freer flow of traffic. Especially, in-car technology, as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is seen as a spearhead in the memorandum of the Dutch Minister of Transport Eurlings. The government will strongly stimulate the penetration of this ACC technology, as measure against congestion. ACC in its current shape is not fit to avoid congestion or to subdue it. On the contrary, massive introduction would only increase congestion. To use the potential of ACC for congestion, it should be combined with wireless communication, coordination and cooperation between vehicles mutually and vehicles and infrastructure. Introduction of C-ACC offers new possibilities for traffic management and will be a breakthrough in the area of congestion control. Not only through efficiency, but also by enlarging the road capacity through technology. C-ACC attacks the congestion by its roots: the limitations of human vehicle control in reaction and visual field. This way ACC develops itself from a comfort system to a Cooperative ACC system that actively avoids and subdues congestion. |
