Automated Vehicles’ Effects on Urban Traffic Flow Parameters

Transport models able to take into account both Automated Vehicles (AVs) and Conventional Vehicles (CVs) are increasingly required to support decision-makers in the transition to the future mobility. Studies on AVs mainly investigate motorways and extra-urban networks by using a traffic microsimulator approach, but very few studies investigate the more complex case of urban areas in which this approach is a very challenging problem for real (large) networks. In this last case, this study aims to analyze mixed traffic flows in presence of different AVs shares by using a microsimulation approach to estimate traffic flow parameters for a better definition of link flows and performances in presence of mixed traffic flows made of AVs and CVs. They can be used for a better implementation of more reliable meso-simulation assignment models taking into account the presence of mixed AVs and CVs traffic flows for strategic planning of large and complex networks The application to the road network of Rome (Italy) allowed to demonstrate the goodness of the proposed approach.