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。道路基础设施的规划和设计是一项相对简单的任务，直到20世纪初引入机动车辆，这需要道路设计和建设的重大变化。然而，解决日益出现的安全问题的道路设计指南的发展比实际需要落后了大约半个世纪，在加拿大甚至更晚。通信和计算技术的最新进步通过开发和部署两种独立的新车辆技术，使车辆设计走上了重大革命性变化的道路：联网车辆（cv），车辆可以相互通信并与公路基础设施通信，以及自动驾驶车辆（AVs），也被称为自动驾驶车辆。虽然一些自动驾驶/自动驾驶技术已经在道路上部署，但估计最早将在2020-2025年大规模实施。随着这些技术的全面实施，以及随着它们进入市场，预计将带来显著的好处，包括减少拥堵、降低燃油消耗和车辆排放、提高机动性、大幅减少碰撞。虽然自动驾驶/自动驾驶技术是为了在现有的道路基础设施上运行而开发的，但要实现这些新技术的全部优势，肯定需要对道路进行改造。***本研究计划旨在调查车辆从现有技术向自动驾驶/自动驾驶过渡时可能出现的挑战，并可能对交通安全产生负面影响。具体来说，该方案有两个目标，即不同技术水平的车辆与主干道和高速公路的几何设计之间的相互作用。第一个目标是最小化混合车队中单个车辆在特定高速公路上或从一个路段到另一个路段的速度差异。众所周知，这种差异会对交通安全产生负面影响，并已成为公路设计一致性评价的标准。第二个目标是克服车辆进出高速公路的挑战，因为自动驾驶汽车能够以最小的间隙组队行驶，并优化高速公路匝道终端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CV/AV环境下的公路设计，包括过渡期。这项研究的成功开展将有助于各省交通运输部为新车辆技术做好准备，并避免可能损害CV/ av效益的重大问题。这些模型还可以帮助汽车制造商开发基于车对车通信的实时速度和差距管理协议。

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.