Analysis of Environmental Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles

Among many anticipated benefits, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are thought to deliver significant environmental benefits from a comparatively smoother driving cycle than conventional vehicles and platooning. These potential environmental benefits include fuel saving and thus reduced greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other mobile source emissions. This study investigates the energy consumption and GHGs at a network scale with a road network in the City of Chicago. Necessary parameters of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) are modified to represent a CAV’s driving pattern in an all-CAV scenario. The results of the all-CAV scenario are compared with the baseline estimated based on the Chicago regional transportation model. The study found that CAVs lower emissions when applied on a hypothetical traffic network.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC70 Standing Committee on Transportation Energy.
• Authors:
  • Conlon, James
  • Ballare, Sudheer
  • Lin, Jane
  • 0000-0001-9861-1974
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 10p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous vehicles; Connected vehicles; Drag; Environmental impact analysis; Exhaust gases; Fuel consumption; Greenhouse gases; Headways; Intelligent vehicles; Traffic flow; Traffic platooning; Vehicle to infrastructure communications
• Identifier Terms: Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES)
• Geographic Terms: Chicago (Illinois)
• Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01664003
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-06770
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 22 2018 12:04PM