Citation

de Magalhães CF, Santos LP, de Abreu e Silva J. Transp. Res. Proc. 2023; 72: 2006-2013.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publications)

DOI

10.1016/j.trpro.2023.11.682

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Research is still needed to model autonomous vehicles (AVs) to faithfully reflect their behaviours and the reactions of human drivers. This study used a microscopic traffic simulation approach to assess the impact of AVs on both traffic performance and safety performance of a heavily congested motorway according to two traffic management strategies, reserved lane and shared space, materialised in two scenarios corresponding to 25% and 50% AVs fleet penetration. We found that the shared space traffic management strategy significantly improved traffic flow and reduced predicted two-vehicle crashes as the percentage of AVs increased, although a non-negligible increase in the severity of both potential conflicts and crashes may occur. It has been proven that, during the transition period, it is impossible to improve the performance of the road network without worsening safety.

Language: en

Keywords

Autonomous vehicles; Microscopic traffic simulation; Safety performance assessment; Surrogate Safety Assessment Model; Traffic performance assessment; Transition period