Autonomous Vehicles: An Analysis Both on Their Distinctiveness and the Potential Impact on Urban Transport Systems

Abstract

Autonomous driving is a technological innovation that involves the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the automotive area, representing the future of transport and whose applications will influence the concept of driving and many other features of modern society. Indeed, the introduction of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) on the market, along with the development of related technologies, will have a potential impact not only on the automotive industry but also on urban transport systems. New mobility-related businesses will emerge, whereas existing ones will have to adapt to changes. There are various aspects that affect urban transport systems: in this work, we highlight how road markings, intersections, and pavement design upgradings have a key role for AVs operation. This work aims to describe how contemporary society will be influenced by Autonomous Vehicles’ spread in regard to urban transport systems. A comprehensive analysis of the expected developments within urban transport systems is hereby presented, and some crucial issues concerning benefits and drawbacks are also discussed. From our studies, it emerges that the detection performed by vehicles is mainly affected by road markings characteristics, especially at intersections. Indeed, the need for a new cross-sections type arise, since vehicles wandering phenomena will be reduced due to AVs position-keeping systems.

Sustainable Data Governance for Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility in the European Union

“…The Commission implementing act will specify technical specifications that relate to: [30] However, those technical specifications relating to driver availability monitoring systems [30] (Art. 3 (23)) will not apply to fully automated vehicles [30] Notifies of use that is contrary to the system's description." [31] The amendment to the German Road Traffic Act also introduces compulsory fitting of a black box to vehicles with highly or fully autonomous driving functions.…”

“…An EU system for managing security mandates for coordinated intelligent transport systems is being set up, which must meet the requirements of the certification policy (Annex III) and security policy (Annex IV), which sets out the requirements for information security management in coordinated intelligent transport systems [40] (Art. 23).…”

“…The human driver can take control of the vehicle, in particular when conditions confuse predefined user cases (e.g., road works, road diversions, or when the human driver wishes to). Examples: urban mobility as taxi services and public transport services [22][23][24].…”

Statistical Modeling of Cultural Differences in Adopting Autonomous Vehicles

“…Acceptance and preference for each mode of transportation are actively being studied [5][6][7][8]. However, in the current COVID-19 pandemic, people prefer personal autonomous vehicles over other types of transportation because of sanitation and the reduced risk of contagion [9,10]. In the post COVID-19 era, the preference for autonomous private vehicles as a mode of transportation will continue.…”

How Imitation Learning and Human Factors Can Be Combined in a Model Predictive Control Algorithm for Adaptive Motion Planning and Control

“…In fact, traffic volumes are constantly increasing (at least they had been before the COVID-19 pandemic) and the number of vehicle accidents has also equally increased, with large effects on people's safety and quality of life, as well as on social financial expenses. As claimed in [1], in 2016, for example, the World Health Organization estimated that the number of deaths related to road accidents was over 3400 per day, with associated costs having an impact of nearly 3% of the world's Gross Domestic Product. In this picture, it is assumed that autonomous cars can reduce the quantity of road accidents and injuries, improving traffic operations and making them easier.…”