Smart traffic distribution in a coexistence environment of conventional and connected automated vehicles

As automated driving technology advances, its coexistence with conventional vehicles poses challenges in managing road conflicts and considering the impact of other drivers’ decisions on network performance, especially concerning environmental factors. With such concerns in mind, this paper explores the impacts associated with smarter traffic distribution in an interurban corridor under the coexistence of automated and conventional vehicles. The minimisation of travel time and reduction of external costs associated with pollutant emissions are the main goals of proposed traffic distribution. Vehicles on the road network are classified based on driving type (automated or conventional) and propulsion type (electric, diesel, gasoline, or hybrid electric). Sequential simulations using PTV Vissim, COPERT, and MATLAB and SciPy library in Python are conducted to evaluate the effects of automated electric vehicle (AEVs) introduction in different road types (highway and urban/rural). Results show the influence of Automated Electric Vehicles (AEVs) on traffic performance varies depending on route characteristics. The implementation of intelligent traffic distribution plays a crucial role in reducing emissions costs making it possible to reduce externalities related to emission costs by up to 21 per cent. However, there is a trade-off between minimising GHG and local pollutants.