“Everything Somewhere” or “Something Everywhere”: Examining the Implications of Automated Vehicles’ Deployment Strategies

Pavlos Tafidis, Haneen Farah, Tom Brijs and Ali Pirdavani
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Pavlos Tafidis: UHasselt, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Agoralaan, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
Haneen Farah: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, TUDelft, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands
Tom Brijs: UHasselt, Transportation Research Institute (IMOB), Agoralaan, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
Ali Pirdavani: UHasselt, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Agoralaan, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-15

Abstract: “Everything somewhere” or “something everywhere” is the classic dilemma concerning the development and implementation of the future generation of vehicles, i.e., automated vehicles (AVs). Both strategies include diverse policy options that could significantly impact road networks’ planning, design, operation, and utilization. Until now, no significant research has been conducted concerning their implications. In this paper, we aim to examine how ready the current physical infrastructure is by identifying the requirements of each strategy and then applying them in a common type of intersection. The study’s findings demonstrate that AVs’ performance can be affected by policy implementation decisions and adds further weight to the argument of AVs separation or no-separation from no-AVs traffic. Furthermore, the insignificant improvements in traffic performance imply the low readiness of the current road networks in urban areas to accommodate the new technology. This study contributes to determining that research on the readiness of the road infrastructure and the deployment of AVs in urban areas is inevitable. It also identifies that roads’ geometric design can dramatically affect AVs’ operation and the difficulties of implementing dedicated lanes in urban areas due to space availability.

Keywords: automated vehicles; road design; road infrastructure; traffic simulation; traffic performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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