Quantifying the impact of autonomous vehicles using microscopic simulations

Abstract

We use traffic simulations to quantify the impact of autonomous vehicles in various traffic scenarios, where vehicles at higher automation levels behave more opportunistically in car-following and lane-changing and can react to road situations more quickly. Our experimental results show that an increased automation level can improve traffic efficiency but may lead to more potential conflicts between vehicles, which should not be neglected if human drivers still need to take part in the driving.