Towards a new mobility concept for cities: architecture and programming of semi-autonomous electric vehicles

This article focus on Cybernetic Transport Systems (CTS) due to their effectiveness for solving mobility problems in cities. A new mobility concept is proposed which allows to attain the same flexibility of the private passenger car but with much less nuisances. It is based on small semiautonomous electric vehicles, which may be used to complement mass public transportation, by providing passenger service for any location at any time. A set of automatic guided vehicles for public transportation are described. Two different control paradigms of the fleet are compared: centralized vs. decentralized control. The pros and cons of both control approaches are highlighted so as to support decisions about the configuration of a CTS. The article provides a new offer of transport to city authorities in order to move towards sustainable and efficient public transportation systems.