The Effects of Autonomous Vehicles on Traffic Efficiency and Energy Consumption

Abstract

This paper studies how autonomous vehicles (AVs) influence future traffic and energy consumption when adopting various route guidance strategies, which can be divided into global information strategies and local information strategies according to the scope of information collection. A mixed traffic flow model is established. Then, an autonomous vehicle model is improved to investigate the impact of six route guidance strategies. The selected strategies are specifically evaluated in a double-route scenario, considering both single-exit and dual-exit configurations. Three indicators are chosen to evaluate traffic efficiency, including traffic flow, average speed and quantity of vehicles. Consumption per unit flux is the indicator of energy consumption level. Simulation results show that autonomous vehicles can improve traffic efficiency and reduce energy consumption.