Analysis of the Movements of Autonomous Vehicle and its Impacts on Traffic Flow at Signalized Intersection by Field Observations

Abstract

In this study, both the differences of movements between autonomous vehicle and general vehicles and the impacts of autonomous vehicle on traffic flow were analyzed by the observation data of demonstration experiments in Aichi prefecture. As the results of analyses, it was found that autonomous vehicle can hold the speed at a constant level on basic section compared to general vehicles. In addition, it was revealed that the characteristics of following behaviors of autonomous vehicle varied with the type of leading vehicle. At signalized intersection, it was confirmed that the start-up response time of autonomous vehicle was longer than that of general vehicles. Furthermore, it was found that the speed differences at the exit of intersection between autonomous vehicle and general vehicles were little for through traffic, but the differences for right-turn and left-turn traffic became large. For the saturation flowrate, the values became lower by the commingling of autonomous vehicle with traffic flow.