Investigating Effects of New Vehicle Technologies on Highway Safety from Transition to Full Implementation

公路系统为旅客和货物提供了最重要的运输方式。在1900年代初引入机动车辆之前，道路基础设施的规划和设计一直是一项相对简单的任务，这需要对道路设计和施工进行重大改变。然而，为解决出现的安全问题而制定的道路设计准则比实际需要落后了大约半个世纪，加拿大甚至更晚。最近通信和计算技术的进步使汽车设计走上了重大革命性变化的道路，开发和部署了两种独立的新汽车技术：互联汽车(CV)，车辆可以相互通信并与公路基础设施进行通信，自动驾驶汽车(AV)也被称为自动驾驶汽车。虽然一些CV/AV技术已经部署在道路上，但据估计，最早在2020-2025年就会大规模实施。预计不仅随着这些技术的全面实施，而且随着这些技术的深入市场，还将带来显著的好处，包括减少拥堵、减少燃油消耗和车辆排放、改善机动性和大幅减少碰撞。虽然CV/AV技术是为了在现有的道路基础设施上运行而开发的，但肯定需要对道路进行修改，以实现这些新技术的全部好处。*本研究建议旨在调查车队从当前技术向CV/AV过渡时可能出现的挑战，并可能对交通安全产生负面影响。具体地说，该提案有两个目标，即拥有不同技术水平的车队与主干道和高速公路的几何设计之间的相互作用。第一个目标是尽量减少混合车队中个别车辆在特定公路要素上或从一个要素到另一个要素的速度差距。这种差异被认为会对交通安全产生负面影响，并已成为评价公路设计一致性的标准。第二个目标是克服车辆进出高速公路的挑战，这是由于自动车辆能够以最小的间隙成排行驶，并优化高速公路匝道终点站的交通机动性和安全性。为了实现这些目标，该提案将设计一致性和可靠性分析扩展到包括过渡期在内的CV/AV环境中的公路设计。拟议研究的成功开展将有助于各省交通部为新的车辆技术做好准备，并避免可能损害CV/AVS好处的重大问题。这些模型还可以帮助车辆制造商开发基于车辆对车辆通信的速度和间隙管理的实时协议。

The highway system provides the most important mode of transportation for passengers and goods. Planning and design of the road infrastructure was a relatively simple task until the introduction of motorized vehicles in early 1900s, which required major changes in road design and construction. However, the development of road design guidelines to address arising safety problems was around half a century behind the actual need and was even later in Canada. Recent advancements of communication and computing technologies have put vehicle design on the path of significant revolutionary changes through the development and deployment of two separate new vehicle technologies: connected vehicles (CVs), where vehicles can communicate with each other and with the highway infrastructure, and autonomous vehicles (AVs) which are also known as self-driving vehicles. While some CV/AV technologies are already deployed on the road, estimates put wide-scale implementation as early as 2020-2025. Significant benefits including reduced congestion, reduced fuel consumption and vehicle emissions, improved mobility, and considerable reduction of collisions are expected not only with the full implementation of these technologies but also as they penetrate the market. Although CV/AV technologies are developed to operate on the existing road infrastructure, road modifications will certainly be required to realize the full benefits of these new technologies. ***This research proposal aims at investigating challenges that may arise as the vehicle fleet transitions from current technology to CV/AV and can negatively affect traffic safety. Specifically, the proposal has two objectives in relation to the interaction between a vehicle fleet with different technology levels and the geometric design of arterials and freeways. The first objective is to minimize speed disparity between individual vehicles in the mixed fleet on a specific highway element or from one element to the other. Such disparity is known to negatively impact traffic safety, and has been a criterion of highway design consistency evaluation. The second objective is to overcome challenges of vehicles entering or exiting freeways due to the ability of AVs to travel in platoons with minimal gaps and to optimize traffic mobility and safety at freeway ramp terminals. To achieve these objectives, the proposal expands design consistency and reliability analysis to highway design in a CV/AV environment including the transition period. Successful undertaking of the proposed research will help provincial ministries of transportation prepare for the new vehicle technologies and avoid significant problems that can undermine the benefits of CV/AVs. The models can also assist vehicle manufacturers develop real-time protocols for speed and gap management based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication.