Conflicts of Automated Driving With Conventional Traffic Infrastructure

Road traffic signals and traffic infrastructure have a significant impact on the behaviour of highly automated or autonomous vehicles. However, the increase in automation does not always mean an advantage. Generally, highly automated vehicles strictly follow the traffic rules resulting in near-accident situations, although their goal is to avoid and reduce them. Malfunctions of the automated functions might cause surprising interventions while the vehicle is in motion, drivers cannot react in time and well. This paper highlights the potential danger and uncertainty of highly automated or autonomous vehicles in the context of the current conventional traffic infrastructure system. In the future, special consideration shall be given to the vehicle industry and traffic regulation makers on how the infrastructure should be adapted to automated vehicle functions to have a seamless shift towards automated driving. The paper sums up many problematic situations with two critical problems with sensitivity analysis. The first situation: the speed assist system (based on speed limit sign recognition) conflicts with the traffic infrastructure. The second situation is shown: the ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) and LKA (Lane Assist) contradicts with the traffic infrastructure. These critical situations were investigated by using an high-fidelity automotive simulation software as proof of concept and were examined by accident reconstruction analysis software.