The Impact of Autonomous Vehicles and Their Driving Parameters on Urban Road Traffic

Traffic congestion might be partly solved by using autonomously driving vehicles which are expected to enter the market at a significant rate within the next years (Kaltenhäuser et al. in Transp Res Part A: Policy Pract 132:882–910, 2020, [1]; Bansal and Kockelman KM in Transp Res Part A: Policy Pract 95:49–63, 2017, [2]; Nieuwenhuijsen et al. in Transp Res Part C: Emerg Techno 86:300–327, 2018, [3]). Several studies have been undertaken to examine the impact of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on road traffic. Also, autonomous vehicles and connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) have been simulated in the literature with different operational parameters, leading to different results. Hence, in our study we examine how different parameters for the operation of AVs and CAVs influence urban traffic in the case of Munich, Germany. Furthermore, the impact of different percentages of AVs and CAVs on urban traffic is studied. For this, the traffic will be studied for the whole city, as well as for certain travel routes, e.g. in the main travel direction (into the city in the morning), in opposite direction or along the highway surrounding Munich. Last but not least, future scenarios with an enhanced travel behaviour will be studied. The results show that the headway and reaction times of the vehicles have the largest impact on urban traffic. Here, vehicles with large reaction times have a negative impact on urban traffic while short reaction times have a positive one. The results can be used to configure future AVs such that they reduce congestions and optimize urban traffic flow.