Abstract
Abstract This paper presents the results of a noise emission study of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and their impact on the road network. By comparing the current situation with a future hypothetical scenario (100% AVs penetration), this study highlights the positive effect, in terms of noise pollution, of the adoption of AVs on a real road network (city of Rome). For this scope, a traffic simulation-based approach was used to investigate the effects of AVs on the network congestion. Results show that the full AVs penetration scenario leads to an improvement in the network performances in terms of travel time and average network speed. Moreover, the amount of Vehicle Kilometre Travelled (VKT) shows an 8% increase on longer extra-urban routes, due to the higher capacity impact of AVs on highways, with a consequent load reduction for intra-urban shortcutting routes. These results are also reflected in terms of noise emission. In fact, the central area would benefit from lower noise emission, whereas an increase in traffic volume and speed lead to worsened conditions for some specific highway links of the network. Overall, it was shown that a 100% AVs fleet would have a beneficial effect for the noise pollution, leading to a general reduction of noise emissions, which is more pronounced for intra-urban roads.
Highlights
Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) represent the biggest technological advance in the field of transportation
This paper presents the results of a noise emission study of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and their impact on the road network
This study presents a first attempt to define an integrated approach, which couples traffic simulation tools and a noise emission assessment, for evaluating the noise impact of AVs at the urban mobility level
Summary
Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) represent the biggest technological advance in the field of transportation. Beginning from zero (no automation), levels 1-3 still require a licensed driver, while fully automated vehicles (NHTSA, level 4-5) can self-drive in all situations. Automated vehicles are expected to produce a positive impact on the mobility system in terms of safety, sustainability, and congestion. A comprehensive review of the potential impact of AVs penetration can be found in [3,4,5]. It is expected a disruptive impact on drivers’ behaviour as they will not need to pay attention on traffic, or even better they will be able to carry out any pleasure activity such as reading, using smartphones or tablet, sleeping [6, 7]
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