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New study proposes dedicated lanes for autonomous vehicles

New study proposes dedicated lanes for autonomous vehiclesA study from the University of New South Wales has proposed a dedicated freeway network design with exclusive lanes for autonomous vehicles.

Published in the Journal of Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, the study incorporated computer modelling on a range of scenarios to evaluate the potential success of the dedicated lanes.

It found that dedicated lanes significantly improved the overall safety and traffic flow in a hybrid network of pedestrians, cyclists, automated vehicles and legacy vehicles.

Lead author Dr Shantanu Chakraborty from UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said that if the road and transport network is not prepared for these vehicles when they enter the market, it will significantly hinder the travel experience of all road users.

“Traffic congestion costs the economy billions of dollars every year in all the extra time spent commuting. The proposed model will help minimise interaction with legacy vehicles and reduce overall congestion on the road,” he said.

Chakraborty added that an exclusive lane for autonomous vehicles would reflect current infrastructure.

“If you look at our existing network, we already have something similar with dedicated bus lanes – so we’re not reinventing the wheel here,” he said. “Freeways are also the best network of car lanes to trial as they have dedicated entry and exit points where drivers can automatically switch on and off their automated features.”

Research also found that an exclusive lane would reduce congestion and increase the flow of traffic.

Variable signboards have also been proposed, which would be used to change the lane designation of traffic based on traffic volumes and conditions.

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