Assessing the Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles for Freeway Safety

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are being deployed as one of the vital elements for the future of transportation services. Automated vehicle technology is developing rapidly, and this prompted researchers to further assess their impacts on transportation networks. One of the most critical situations when deploying AVs is the mixed traffic conditions. This situation will be faced when the deployment is not full (i.e., the percentage of AVs in the traffic flow (market share) is not 100% yet). Therefore, there will be an interaction between AVs and regular vehicles (RVs). This research aims to evaluate the implications of AVs on freeway traffic safety. This investigation considered the section of the road of E311 (Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road) freeway in Dubai, UAE as the test corridor for the study. Microsimulation software (PTV VISSIM) is used to simulate and assess different traffic scenarios. The developed model aimed to forecast potential traffic accidents on the freeway. In this experiment, a total of 7 demand-to-capacity (D/C) ratios and 10 market share values are considered. The findings indicate that the integration of AVs significantly reduces the frequency of potential traffic accidents. Notably, the largest reductions in accident rates, ranging from 70% to 100%, occur when AVs comprise between 40% to 100% of the traffic. Moreover, the results suggest that complete elimination of potential traffic accidents is achievable with full AV deployment, thereby removing human-driven vehicles from the freeway. This research underscores the substantial safety benefits that AVs could deliver as their presence in traffic flows increases, highlighting their crucial role in enhancing freeway safety.