Project description

The project “The effects of partially and fully automated driving on the highway capacity” analyzes the positive and negative effects of the partial and fully automated driving on the capacity of highway network in Germany. These effects are studied under a premise of a given time distribution of the development and implementation of technology in autonomous car sector.
The methodology used in this project determines the influence of the autonomous driving on the traffic flow and thus on the highway capacity. This influence is first analyzed in detail on a number of component segments of the highway network.  The results of the component segments´ capacity investigation are then extrapolated to the whole highway network in Germany. Based on results of the extrapolation, an economic evaluation of autonomous driving in Germany is done. The effects on the traffic flow are dependent on a number of boundary conditions such as fleet composition, traffic flow rates and legal specifications. Traffic simulation and extrapolation scenarios are derived based on these conditions taking the technical and legal specifications and their development in time into account.