Robotic Highway

Countries have complex transportation infrastructures. I would like to propose a new infrastructure to this network. It would mostly negate the need for railroads. It is mainly joined suspension bridges end to end. They will be placed on the highway medians. The idea is to simplify the design and cost of a robot only highway. Unlike railroads, the robotic highway will only provide a flat surface for two lanes, there will be no rails. The lanes will be above one another to reduce the width of the bridge. Autonomous trucks and buses will operate on this highway.

The towers of these suspension bridges will have vertical wind turbines on their top to power the control and monitoring electronics. Robotic highway will also carry the fiber optic cables used to connect cities. Fiber boosters and monitoring systems will also be powered by the wind turbines. The robots traveling on the highway will have onboard batteries and there will be no power lines on the highway like the ones used for electric trains. The idea is to have a very simple highway that has very low maintenance cost and minimum infrastructure. Long power lines and complex signaling schemes create weak points against natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

The panels forming the bridge will be made of light weight material so that drones can be used during the construction. This will also allow fast recovery of damaged sections in case of a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. Some sections of the upper lane will have a lowering mechanism to connect them to the lower lane to allow access in case of a blockage due to an accident.

Finally, building a low-cost robotic highway will improve the logistics within the country by improving the speed by 7/24 operation, electrifying the transportation and reduce reliance on human drivers.