QwikLane: A driving principle in the QwikLane design is to stay as close as possible to most of the public's current driving experience, except to the extent necessary to accomplish vehicle automation in the most cost-effective way. Market-based evidence demonstrates that travelers value the time lost to congestion at levels easily sufficient to pay the cost of an automated infrastructure; the lower the cost of the infrastructure, the lower the toll necessary to fund it and the more net value remaining for drivers using the system. To this end the system design should introduce the minimum change necessary and sufficient to accommodate safe vehicle automation; beyond this minimum, reasonable efforts should be made to accommodate today's driving preferences as fully as is economically possible in order to remain attractive to the largest potential customer base.
Cost-Benefit: Given the desirability of an elevated guideway to ensure safety for automated vehicles, the trade-off between GVW and cost is paramount. A first cut is to exclude truck traffic. Highways today are engineered to carry 80,000 lbs GVW or more. Trucks and other large vehicles represent less than 10% of traffic. Limiting GVW to 4,000 lbs. (5% of the typical design-load for highways) reduces the cost of elevating substantially while offering vehicle capacity that can accommodate nearly all the remaining 90% of highway usage. Preliminary engineering studies demonstrate that the QwikLane design can accommodate this weight limit while keeping guideway costs low and tolls modest. Today's compact to mid-sized cars are in the 2,500-3,000 lbs. range, leaving 1,000-1,500 lbs. for passengers and cargo to remain within the 4,000 lbs. limit. If customers eventually demand it, larger vehicles can be manufactured from composite components that would bring them down to the required weight range.
Technology Innovation: QwikLane employs sufficient technology to ensure safe, automated travel and avoids uncertain technologies secondary to this purpose. Consider two cases of unnecessary risk associated with the vehicle drivetrain as examples. QwikLane vehicles are self-propelled using the same drivetrain both on and off the automated guideway. The power source is flexible: it can accommodate today's ICE and hybrid vehicles, tomorrow's plug-in electric and hydrogen vehicles and possibly a future electrified guideway. However, to constrain the power source to a particular solution in today's market of sky-rocketing petroleum costs and rapidly changing technologies takes on unnecessary project cost and risk. Other investors are already taking on these risks at enormous cost with uncertain outcome. The least risk route is to design a system that can adapt readily to changes in power source as they evolve and emerge.Nevertheless, all the other Top Tier systems have chosen to take on this added risk through guideway electrification.
The powertrain provides another example where risk can be minimized or compounded. The QwikLane vehicle powertrain is typical of powertrains in use today in most automobiles. All of the other dual mode Top Tier systems require vehicles with powertrain technologies that are starkly different from those in use in today's vehicles and unproven at the scale of today's automobile travel; some incorporate two separate powertrains, one for automated travel and one for manual travel, further compounding technology risk and potential for vehicle failure.
Market Acceptance: By design principle QwikLane seeks to retain as much of today's driving experience as possible. Cost concerns – and the related need to keep toll rates low – drive a limitation on the GVW that excludes access for many mid-sized and all larger vehicles. This is likely to cause considerable market resistance given the growing preference in the last two decades for ever-larger vehicles. While recent increases in petroleum prices appear to be reversing this trend, either a price retreat or success of an alternative fuel source could shift the preference back to larger sizes. While substitution of lighter materials could allow for larger, roomier vehicles with lower weight, in the long run the net benefit of access to an automated highway must be enough to attract the public in sufficient numbers.
Status: QwikLane is conducting preliminary engineering for the guideway and engaged in market development and political outreach. Patents have been issued for the QwikLane concept and key elements of the infrastructure design and for construction techniques.
