Flexible low-cost automated scaled highway (FLASH) laboratory for studies on automated highway systems

This paper addresses the development of a flexible low-cost automated scale highway (FLASH) laboratory which is intended to serve as a catalyst for accelerating the development of many intelligent vehicle highway system (IVHS) concepts. It also highlights the significance of the laboratory for the research, evaluation, and testing of automated highway system (AHS) configurations, architectures, designs and technologies. This laboratory, using small scale standardized vehicles will serve as a test bed for the economical development and evaluation of various hardware, software, and management systems before full scale testing and deployment. The laboratory will provide the capability to test day and night, and will be immune to adverse weather conditions. It will be able to evaluate and test situations from various points of view including control, communication, routing, sensing, etc., which otherwise would be very expensive and dangerous-if human operators are involved-to test on test sites like Smart Road, a proposed testbed for ITS (IVHS) technology in Virginia. The development of this laboratory complements the development and utilization of the Smart Road, and is in harmony with the mission of the Center for Transportation Research.