Traffic, emissions and safety impacts of automated vehicles connecting a university and a science park

This research explores the effects of the integration of automated vehicles (AVs) connecting a university campus and a science park and its impacts on traffic performance as well as pollutant emissions and road conflicts. Using an integrated platform for microscopic modelling of traffic, emissions and safety, several scenarios with multiple AVs penetration rates were simulated. The analysis consisted of assessing the pollutant emissions and road safety with the VSP and SSAM methodologies for the various scenarios. The environmental performance of the network was significantly improved with the increase in the number of AVs. On average, around 8% reductions in pollutant emissions (carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides) and 10% on the total number of road conflicts for 50% AV penetration was observed. Emissions were reduced by 50% when half of the AV fleet is electric, even considering the emissions produced for electricity generation.