Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is an electric-powered autonomous transportation system that closely follows the car architecture and avoids the pitfalls of bus and rail mass transit without requiring fuel cells or advanced battery technology. Lightweight 2-4 passenger vehicles run along an elevated guideway that can be built over existing roads with traffic managed by a control system similar to packet routing (with non-destructive arbitration) over the internet. The plan is to build two simulators (traffic and energy), each with a dual purpose: the first simulator will model traffic patterns in order to validate network design and estimate congestion; and also be used to validate control algorithms generated by this project and external PRT developers. The energy simulator with be used to both estimate energy reductions from PRT as well as potential CO2 emission reductions. By maintaining strict parameterization and coherent code bases, the two simulators can be used to determine network control interactions with energy requirements.
Local governments can use these tools to evaluate potential PRT designs; as well as assisting in benchmarking the goals mandated by AB32. With these two simulators used to demonstrate system viability, it is hoped that a full center can be established to bring PRT to California as the next generation transportation system.
2009 Update:
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) solves many of the problems facing the nation and the world rather neatly. Effectively, it electrifies the mode of transportation, retaining many of the freedoms of private vehicles, while at the same time increasing the fuel economy and increasing throughput in terms of both people and freight. This is a very exciting technology, and while it might be considered too “George Jetson” for current implementation, we believe that our simulator can go a long way to changing the perceived feasibility of such a system.
PRT is, essentially, an electric car in which the batteries are carried by the track, not by the vehicle. This allows the high energy density of the electric propulsion, very lightweight vehicles, and removes the disadvantage of limited range and speed. It is a transportation infrastructure that will revolutionize the cities and urban areas of the world once built.
Our work towards an open-source, cross-platform, modular, and generic simulator for Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems has resulted in four software components: a graphical network layout tool, a micro-simulator, a visualization tool, and a vehicle control module. The core component is the micro-simulation of PRT vehicle movement, which simulates and logs results on a per-vehicle level of detail. Vehicle control is handled by an external vehicle control process, which communicates to the simulator over a network connection. The visualization module provides near real-time feedback on the progress of the simulation, allows the user to control the simulation rate, and allows for on-the-fly modification of many aspects of the current scenario. Finally, the graphical network layout tool provides a graphical user interface for laying out the network of track, stations, and initial vehicle positions. It is an internet-enabled application that uses satellite and map data provided by Google Maps, and elevation data provided by Geonames.org to readily create scenarios in most areas of the world. Each component is at a basic level of functionality, and integration of the pieces is well-tested.