Automated vehicles (AVs), as one of the most significant technological advancements of our century, are expected to improve traffic safety since most of the traffic crashes are related to human errors. However, their safety effectiveness in complex urban environments such as urban arterials and intersections has not yet been empirically demonstrated. Urban arterials are characterized by high traffic volumes and closely spaced signalized and unsignalized intersections such as driveways. Previous studies have found that increasing driveway density has a negative impact on highway safety because navigating in these environments can be extremely challenging. Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and higher levels of automated driving systems (ADS) have the potential to overcome these challenges. This paper is developed to assess the safety impacts of AVs at urban unsignalized intersections and/or in the proximity of urban driveways. To accomplish this goal, a microsimulation model will be used to develop an urban arterial environment with an unsignalized access point. Two scenarios of a fully conventional vehicle and AV environments will be developed under various traffic levels of services (LOS). Afterward, the frequency and distribution of the conflicts will be extracted and compared for both conventional vehicles and AVs to determine how AVs will affect traffic safety under various LOS.
Can Autonomous Vehicles Enhance Traffic Safety at Unsignalized Intersections?
International Conference on Transportation and Development 2020 ; 2020 ; Seattle, Washington (Conference Cancelled)
2020-08-31
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Springer Verlag | 2013
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