Autonomous vehicles: The next jump in accessibilities?

Autonomous vehicles are expected to offer a higher comfort of traveling at lower prices and at the same time to increase road capacity - a pattern recalling the rise of the private car and later of motorway construction. Using the Swiss national transport model, this research simulates the impact of autonomous vehicles on accessibility of the Swiss municipalities. The results show that autonomous vehicles could cause another quantum leap in accessibility. Moreover, the spatial distribution of the accessibility impacts implies that autonomous vehicles favor urban sprawl and may render public transport superfluous except for dense urban areas.

[1]  Nidhi Kalra,et al.  Autonomous Vehicle Technology: A Guide for Policymakers , 2014 .

[2]  Daniel J. Fagnant,et al.  Preparing a Nation for Autonomous Vehicles: Opportunities, Barriers and Policy Recommendations , 2015 .

[3]  Caroline Geck,et al.  The World Factbook , 2017 .

[4]  Kara M. Kockelman,et al.  Best Practices Guidebook for Preparing Texas for Connected and Automated Vehicles , 2016 .

[5]  G. Duranton,et al.  Micro-Foundations of Urban Agglomeration Economies , 2003 .

[6]  Kay W. Axhausen,et al.  Changes in Swiss Accessibility since 1850 , 2005 .

[7]  L. Burns.  Sustainable mobility: A vision of our transport future , 2013, Nature.

[8]  Don MacKenzie,et al.  Help or hindrance? The travel, energy and carbon impacts of highly automated vehicles , 2016 .

[9]  Kara M. Kockelman,et al.  Tracking a system of shared autonomous vehicles across the Austin, Texas network using agent-based simulation , 2016 .

[10]  Emilio Frazzoli,et al.  Models, algorithms, and evaluation for autonomous mobility-on-demand systems , 2015, 2015 American Control Conference (ACC).

[11]  Alain L. Kornhauser,et al.  The Revolutionary Development of Self-Driving Vehicles and Implications for the Transportation Engineering Profession , 2013 .

[12]  Itf.  Urban Mobility System Upgrade: How shared self-driving cars could change city traffic , 2015 .

[13]  P. Krugman.  Geography and Trade , 1992 .

[14]  Kay W. Axhausen,et al.  Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Sizes Required to Serve Different Levels of Demand , 2016 .

[15]  Matthew E. Kahn,et al.  Sprawl and Urban Growth , 2003 .

[16]  Kara M. Kockelman,et al.  The Travel and Environmental Implications of Shared Autonomous Vehicles, Using Agent-Based Model Scenarios , 2014 .

[17]  K B Davidson,et al.  THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF A FLOW-TRAVEL TIME RELATIONSHIP FOR USE IN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING , 1978 .

[18]  Claude Weis,et al.  Activity oriented modelling of short- and long-term dynamics of travel behaviour , 2012 .

[19]  Nicholas F. Maxemchuk,et al.  Highway Capacity Benefits from Using Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication and Sensors for Collision Avoidance , 2011, 2011 IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Fall).

[20]  P. Hills.  What is induced traffic? , 1996 .

[21]  Kara M. Kockelman,et al.  Operations of a Shared, Autonomous Electric Vehicle Fleet: Implications of Vehicle & Charging Infrastructure Decisions , 2016 .

[22]  Debbie A. Niemeier,et al.  Measuring Accessibility: An Exploration of Issues and Alternatives , 1997 .

[23]  Suzanne Childress,et al.  Using an Activity-Based Model to Explore the Potential Impacts of Automated Vehicles , 2015 .

[24]  Bernhard Friedrich,et al.  Verkehrliche Wirkung autonomer Fahrzeuge , 2015 .

[25]  D. Heinrichs.  Autonomes Fahren und Stadtstruktur , 2015 .

[26]  Alain L. Kornhauser,et al.  Uncongested Mobility for All: A Proposal for an Area Wide Autonomous Taxi System in New Jersey , 2014 .

[27]  Urbano Nunes,et al.  Platooning of autonomous vehicles with intervehicle communications in SUMO traffic simulator , 2010, 13th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

[28]  Claude Weis.  Aktivitätenorientierte Analyse des Neuverkehrs , 2010 .

[29]  Jeffrey Gonder,et al.  An Analysis of Possible Energy Impacts of Automated Vehicles , 2014 .

[30]  W. G. Hansen.  How Accessibility Shapes Land Use , 1959 .

[31]  Kara M. Kockelman,et al.  Tracking a system of shared autonomous vehicles across the Austin, Texas network using agent-based simulation , 2017, Transportation.