Bendix Works On Automatic Vehicle Project

Bendix Works On Automatic Vehicle Project

FRI JUN 19 1970

The Bendix Corp. Aerospace System Division in Ann Arbor is studying headway sensing systems for automatic vehicles which would travel special guideways.

The study program is being sponsored by the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Circulation in majoractivity centers, including airports and downtown business districts are 'among the applications envisioned for the transit system.

Specially - designed vehicles carrying freight or from two to 15 people would operate on the guideways at speeds from 10 to 60 miles per hour.

Under the Bendix study program, headway sensing equipment is being surveyed so future needs can be accurately forecast. The equipment must automatically measure distance of from 10 to 500 feet between vehicles on the guideways.

Bendix is considering technology involving instruments mounted on the vehicles and on the wayside. Vehicle-mounted microwave systems, for instance, would measure distances and speeds between vehicles. Wayside presense detectors, sensing nets and special-purpose computers would determine separation between vehicles.

The ultimate objective of the study program is to incorporate equipment into a demonstration of headway sensing for an automatically-controlled transit system, according to George Bacalis, manager of the transportation systems department at Aerospace Systems Division.