Design Manual Adjustments and Infrastructure Needs for Automated Vehicles : City of Toronto Context

With the introduction of Automated Vehicles (AVs) in not so distinct future, we need the urban transportation infrastructure to be ready for their sustainable deployment. A key aspect of this readiness is to introduce the right modifications in the road design and the associated adjustments in terms of traffic control. This project focuses on Ontario Traffic Manual and Canadian Capacity Guide. We investigate the adjustments required for interrupted flow and model these adjustments using microsimulation tool VISSIM. Results shows that autonomous vehicles alone even with recommended modifications, without connectivity features would not improve our network as we anticipated, especially at low market penetration rates when Human Drive Vehicles (HDVs) are still on the streets. Furthermore, investments to our current infrastructure need to be made in order to allow communication with the vehicles and keep them updated on the congested, in order to reach the optimal benefit from this technology.