PASHAs for delivering information to travelers
Over the last several years, there has been increasing interest in what has come to be known as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The concept of ITS is based on the use of advanced computer and communications technology in order to improve the operation of transportation systems, and in particular decrease congestion delays and the adverse environmental impact of congestion, and improve the overall quality of life of travelers. ITS deployment is generally accepted as an eventual certainly in view of the substantial and measurable improvements to transportation which it can provide. However, the rate of ITS deployment is not proceeding as fast as its most avid proponents would like, and probably not as fast as it should. One of the main reasons is that the perceived benefits by potential users are not compelling enough to induce them to make the necessary investments in ITS. To be sure, some navigation equipment has been sold to the most affluent among potential users, or to Japanese motorists who really need it because of the inadequacy or road markings in Japan. But large scale investment in ITS is still lagging.
The internet may hold the key to accelerating the deployment of ITS, by providing the means for early marketing of traveler information services. Here is the scenario:
Traffic management authorities must collect information about traffic conditions in order to do their job well. Additional information is collected by companies such as Metro Traffic, or Shadow Traffic, and broadcast over the airwaves. The information obtained by traffic management authorities is generally unavailable to travelers, while the broadcast information reaches a few, but in a hit-or-miss fashion. Some of the information is beginning to reach the internet in the form of color-coded diagrams of traffic conditions. Additional information of possible use to a traveler may be available from other sources. For example, various agencies provide current, even real-time, information on availablity of ride-sharing opportunities. In addition, bus companies are increasingly able to provide real-time location of their buses, in addition to their scheduled location, and they are beginning to post such information on the internet.
The time has come to collect some of this information, package it, and make it available to travelers. However, in order to make this information really useful and usable, some improvements in the utilization of the internet will be needed. PASHAs can enable these improvements. In the short term, PASHAs can be used to accelerate the deployment of ITS. In the long term, PASHAs can become an integral part of many ITS services.
The short term application of PASHAs will be to have them collect from the internet, as well as from any other sources accessible by a computer, information useful to a person planning and carrying out a trip over a transportation network. The PASHAs will process this information and deliver helpful suggestions for a trip, both at the planning stage and en route. Information of this kind will be useful to commuters and businesses alike. Business which can use such information directly in their operations are obviously those operating fleets of vehicles, like truck and bus companies. Other businesses are those engaged in distribution, car rental companies, and also companies operating a fleet of service vehicles, such as utility companies. Specifically, here is how PASHAs can help travelers.
One of the core functions of ITS is the provision of timely advice to travelers which would allow them to plan and carry out their trip with the minimum discomfort and inconvenience. What drivers do not need is useless information such as that shown below.
The former requires only access to a computer at the origin, while the latter also requires an on-board communication link and the ability to estimate the location of a vehicle with sufficient accuracy in order to identify the relevant incidents and traffic conditions.
The three functions of the agent in rendering service in this case are defined as follows:
a) Input Preparation: Information useful for making travel decisions is currently unevenly available around the country. However, there is a growing trend to use the internet in order to disseminate information which is either currently available over the radio, or can be obtained from the traffic and public transit authorities. It is very likely that this trend will result in wide availability over the internet of information concerning public transit schedules and current performance, ride- sharing availability, traffic conditions, and other relevant information such as weather and road surface conditions.
The information available over the internet is currently, and will probably be for the foreseeable future, disseminated in various forms including text, images (frequently color-coded), and diagrams. One of the necessary functions is to reduce all this information to an input form appropriate for the use of available computational algorithms. In due course, emerging standards will simplify this task considerably.
b) Computational Enhancement: This is undeniably the most important step in the process of traveler information services. The translation of raw information concerning traffic conditions into accurate estimates of travel times across a network is still not a very well developed practice. However, advanced algorithms are becoming available which can yield, among other things, the following important information:
Given standard measurements of traffic volumes obtained with traditional traffic sensors, we can derive:
Using these algorithms, the agent of a particular user will obtain personalized information concerning available options of trip-planning as well as adjustments to a trip dictated by real-time information. For example, trip-planning information can be obtained while a traveler is getting ready for a trip, allowing for timely adjustments to a travel mode, route, and starting time, aimed at minimizing contention with other travelers. If a traveler decides to drive his own vehicle, the computational enhancement phase will continue to provide timely advice concerning recommended changes in the trip plan due to changing traffic conditions. It is anticipated that information en-route will be transmitted by voice which is the most acceptable communication type in such a situation.
c) Decision Making: Because of the nature of this application, most decisions will be left to the user, with the agent providing advice in the most concise and intelligible form. However, the agent may be given the responsibility of initiating contacts for the purpose of such actions as registering for ride-sharing, obtaining a public transit ticket if necessary, and notifying friends and associates of the progress of one's trip.
Dissemination of the information by the PASHA can be done over a computer terminal in the form of text and graphics, before the start of a trip. En route, the user may leave the PASHA in a stationary computer and receive the information, as needed, over a suitable communication link such as a cellular phone. Alternatively, the user may carry along an internet-enabled portable computer hosting a PASHA. In any case, the information would best be disseminated in the form of voice instructions, to minimize interference with driving tasks, but it can be coupled with visual information such as simple graphs. PASHA’s linguistic capability will include text creation, after which a text to speech conversion is a natural extension.
There is a significant role for PASHAs in the commercial sector as well. An example may be the tracking of critical shipments by PASHAs. The PASHA may act as the personal agent for the distribution vehicle, or even for a particular shipment. It will monitor the movement of the shipment and the traffic conditions along its route, and call for action if the delivery schedule begins to depart significantly from the planned one. It may, for example, initiate an alternate delivery from the same or a different supplier, if it determines that the shipment is about to miss a critical deadline. Once more, the profit motive of a commercial operation will justify the development and use of sophisticated PASHAs, spearheading their use in transportation. The trucking industry employs 9 million people in 360,000 companies in the United States, generating gross revenues of about $400 billion through shipments of 5.5 billion tons of freight, using 4 million trucks. The trucking business is growing at 6 to 9 percent yearly, and in recent years has devoted an increasing percentage of its effort in Just-in-Time shipments reducing inventories at the receiving end. These volumes and trends speak eloquently for the need of improvements in the management of shipments, such as those that PASHAs can provide.