Automatisch & geïnformeerd

Abstract

The self-driving vehicle technology can be a potential game changer. The image of traffic and transport we know nowadays can change rapidly over the next twenty years with the introduction of autonomous driving. Still, there seem to be some uncertainties with the development of autonomous driving. Apart from the fact that this technology is still full in progress, there are still questions on how to combine autonomous vehicles with conventional traffic and what the effect this collaboration has on the traffic flow. The goal of this research is to find out what effects autonomous driving can have on the traffic flows. This research uses microscopic traffic simulation to experiment with different scenarios in which autonomous driving can be introduced on the Dutch road. The effect that have been found did not indicate major changes. An autonomous lane ensures that autonomous vehicles can drive optimally at the cost of more lane changes on the regular lanes. The cooperative automatic car benefits the average speed on the road and helps decreasing the travel loss time. However, the effect of cooperative driving on the traffic demand should be taken into consideration. If this new way of traveling leads to an increase in traffic demand, the arrival of autonomous driving must be combined with other alternatives to ensure travel time loss reduction in the future.