A small-scale microeconomic model to evaluate the road network policy under the mixed flow of autonomous vehicles and human-driven vehicles

Abstract

This study defined the users' behaviors of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and human-driven vehicles (HVs) based on the time allocation model and proposed a small-scale microeconomic model for AV policy evaluation. The model makes it possible to calculate the benefit in the road network under the mixed flow of AVs and HVs. The representative users of AVs and HVs are assumed to consume composite goods, leisure time, and road transportation offered by AVs or HVs. The transportation service considers the congestion effect and is determined by solving the multiclass traffic assignment model under the mixed flows. The previous studies addressing AVs assume the heterogeneous values of time (VoT) of AV and HV users, which are given exogenously. This study does not give VoTs exogenously but considers the heterogeneity of the disposable time and income of AV and HV users, respectively. As a result, the impact of a multitasking effect in AVs on the users' utility and the benefit can be estimated. We performed a numerical test in a test network to verify the proposed model and examined the relationship between indirect utility, AV penetration rate, and AV performance.