Abstract

In the transition step to the near future where autonomous vehicles fill the highways, the autonomous vehicles’ successful implementation counts on knowledge about their interaction with conventional vehicles. Due to the lack of numbers of the autonomous vehicles on roadways, many transportation professionals depend on simulations in order to examine the coexistence of both vehicle types and their interaction in the circumstance of higher market penetration rates of the autonomous vehicles. In this study, VISSIM microscopic simulator is used for inspecting the autonomous vehicles interactions and assessing their impacts on traffic stream. A case study that evaluates the effects on vehicles throughput, delay, queue length, and safety at the highway work zone merging area is investigated. The simulation was generated the proximity of the Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine tunnel, which connects Boucherville and Montréal island. To simulate coexist periods, the autonomous vehicles were put into the simulation with different penetration rates starting at 20% and increasing 20% for each scenario until reaching 80% of the rates of the autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, the safety impact of the autonomous vehicles in the matter of conflicts was studied using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). The simulation results showed that the tunnel work zone’s capacity per lane was increased when CAVs were added to the simulation. The average vehicle delay did not improve a low CAV penetration rates. However, as CAVs account for more than 40% of the total passenger vehicles, the vehicle delay improved. The simulated model also showed that the average queue length increased with the increase of CAV in the traffic stream. Nonetheless, the conflict analysis results proved that CAVs can improve overall traffic safety at the work zone.