Honolulu plans fully autonomous transit system

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is embarking on a fully automated transportation system to help reduce highway traffic congestion by as much as 18 per cent, officials say, taking as many as 40,000 automobiles off the road and replacing them with a fleet of four-car trains that can accommodate up to 800 passengers. Said to be the first fully automated wide-scale urban transit system in the United States, the $5.2 billion Honolulu Rail Transit Project features a 20-mile elevated rai
September 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is embarking on a fully automated transportation system to help reduce highway traffic congestion by as much as 18 per cent, officials say, taking as many as 40,000 automobiles off the road and replacing them with a fleet of four-car trains that can accommodate up to 800 passengers.

Said to be the first fully automated wide-scale urban transit system in the United States, the $5.2 billion Honolulu Rail Transit Project features a 20-mile elevated rail line that will be run through a centralised, scheduled system to prevent human error and reduce delays.

Instead of human drivers, a centrally-located computer system will control stops, departures, and speed, and even open and close doors. Operation will be cheaper than for manually-driven rail, says Dan Grabauskas, executive director and CEO HART, and he also expects it to be safer. The autonomous rail line is expected to begin operating in three years.

Related Content

  • Preventing connected vehicles creating disconnected drivers
    November 12, 2015
    Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are evolving at a rapid pace – but drivers’ ability to cope with them is not and at some point the mismatch must be addressed. Probably the biggest challenge the transportation industry has ever faced.” That is how Dr Bryan Reimer of Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab describes the challenges posed by semi-autonomous vehicles.
    Read More
  • Toll performance exceeds expectations, improves travel times
    January 30, 2012
    Jean Harito, Attica Tollway Operations Authority and Steve Morello, Egis Projects describe how looking to exceed contractual obligations makes good operational and business sense. The Attica Tollway is a modern, 65km, access-controlled urban motorway with three lanes in each direction. It constitutes the ring road around the extensive metropolitan area of the Greek capital, Athens, and forms the backbone of the entire road network in the Attica region. By ensuring freeflow operating conditions, the Attica T
    Read More
  • Section speed enforcements gains global converts
    October 26, 2017
    As the benefits of section speed enforcement are becoming clearer, the technology is gaining converts worldwide. Colin Sowman reports. America’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for urgent action from both road authorities and the federal government to combat speeding which has been identified as one of the most common factors in motor vehicle crashes in the United States. This new call follows the publication of a safety study which found that between 2005 through 2014, 31% of all
    Read More
  • Why the US said ‘yes’ to public transportation on 8 November
    March 29, 2017
    Historic funding boost reflects America’s awareness of transit’s contribution to economic growth and quality of life. Something unexpected happened on Election Day 2016, a result nobody expected; public transportation was a clear winner. There were 49 transit-related funding initiatives on ballots across the nation, of which about 70% were passed.
    Read More

Highlighted Content