Autonomous vehicles in mixed motorway traffic: Capacity utilisation, impact and policy implications

In upcoming years, the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AVs) will reshape the transport system. The transition from a regular to an autonomous transport system, however, will take place over many years and lead to a long period with a mixed driving environment where AVs and regular vehicles (RVs) operate side by side. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the utilization of the road capacity degrades as a function of heterogeneity in congested motorways. The analysis is based on a dedicated traffic simulator, which enables the investigation of complex dynamic spillback from congestion while allowing for different degrees of heterogeneity. The representation of autonomous vehicles is based on a modified intelligent driver model (IIDM) presented by Treiber et al. (Phys Rev E 62(2):1805–1824, 2000) and Treiber and Kesting (Traffic flow dynamics, Springer, Heidelberg, 2013), while the behavior of drivers of RVs relies on a stochastic version of the IIDM. Three main conclusions stand out. Firstly, it is shown that in an idealized environment in which AVs operate alone, a substantially improved capacity utilization can be attained. Secondly, when drivers of RVs are mixed with AVs, capacity utilization degrades very fast as a function of the share of RVs. Thirdly, it is shown that the improved capacity utilization of AVs comes in the form of reduced travel time and increased throughput, with indications that travel time reductions are the most important. From a strategical planning perspective, the results underline that dedicated lanes are preferable to attain the positive effects of AVs. Specifically, the authors compare a stylized situation with three lanes with a share of 33% AVs to a situation with two regular lanes and a single dedicated AV lane. The latter represents a tripling in consumer surplus all other things being equal.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-020-10154-4
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00494488
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Copyright © 2021, Springer Nature.
• Authors:
  • Carrone, Andrea
  • Rich, Jeppe
  • 0000-0001-5706-3836
  • Vandet, Christian
  • An, Kun
• Publication Date: 2021-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 2907–2938
• Serial:
  • Transportation
  • Volume: 48
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISSN: 0049-4488
  • EISSN: 1572-9435
  • Serial URL: http://link.springer.com/journal/11116

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous vehicles; Highway capacity; Managed lanes; Policy making; Traffic congestion; Vehicle mix
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Policy; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01830756
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 20 2021 3:14PM