Modelling and Evaluating the Deployment of an Autonomous Vehicle Zone in Transportation Networks

The advancement of technologies has fast-tracked the deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs), however, they necessitate the modernization of the existing road infrastructure to meet the technical and safety requirements of AVs. Due to the high cost and prolonged time required for upgrading road infrastructure, it is expected that AVs will be introduced gradually into existing transport networks of human-driven vehicles (HVs) either jointly or separately in a special area or particular zones within existing networks. Thus, this thesis develops a framework for modelling and deployment of AV zones with mixed traffic that maximizes the transportation network’s performance in terms of the total system travel time.