From connected vehicles to a connected, coordinated and automated road transport (C2ART) system

Automated and connected vehicles hold significant promise in the reduction of road accidents, traffic congestion and energy use. However, the road transport system is complex and the potential impacts of these vehicles, which could contribute to totally reshape the vehicle use paradigm, are mostly uncertain and could even have undesirable consequences. A significant increase in travel demand is foreseen to occur as these vehicles provide more comfort and a greater accessibility to user groups such as the elderly, young or disabled. This circumstance might require a totally different management of the road transport system. From higher levels of coordination up to the complete control of the system as it already happens in other transport systems like aviation and, in part, maritime, might be required to ensure that the performances of the road system will not gradually collapse. In spite of the potential negative implications of a large-scale deployment of automated vehicles, Public Authorities are mainly focusing their attention on providing the framework in which industry and operators can deploy new technologies and systems. However, as soon as the share of vehicles with higher degrees of automation will increase, the need for different approaches to traffic monitoring and control will immediately emerge. In the present paper the concept of Coordinated Automated Road Transport (C
²
ART) is presented as an evolution of the road transport management concept in the presence of connected and automated vehicles. The objective of the present work is to collect in a structured way the state of the current knowledge and practice in order to frame different future scenarios that can help policy makers to better plan their strategy as well as assist the academic world to support the evolution by providing the tools that are necessary in the attempt to implement a fully Automated Road Transport system.