Automated Truck Lanes in Urban Area for Through and Cross Border Traffic

Autonomous trucks will soon be operational across our nation’s roadways. Yet, it is unclear how the design of our highway infrastructure should be modified to accommodate autonomous trucks, to enable them to operate in such a way to maximize the economic, capacity and safety benefits. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is proposing to develop and demonstrate, through microscopic traffic simulations, the concept of operations of autonomous truck lanes along the interstate freeways. Using the I-10 Freeway in the El Paso, TX region as the testbed, the research team will: (i) assess the existing structural, geometric and traffic designs in handling fully automated trucks, including the entrances, exits, and connectors; (ii) perform microscopic traffic simulations at critical locations to demonstrate design issues and the recommended design improvements; (iii) conduct a preliminary cost estimation on such infrastructure improvements.自动驾驶卡车（Autonomous Trucks）即将在全美道路投入商用。然而当前尚未明确，应如何改造公路基础设施以适配自动驾驶卡车，使其运营模式能够最大化经济效益、道路通行容量与行车安全效益。得克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校（UTEP）拟通过微观交通仿真技术，研发并验证州际高速公路自动驾驶卡车专用车道的运行概念。该研究团队以德克萨斯州埃尔帕索地区的10号州际公路作为试验平台，将开展如下工作：（一）评估现有结构、几何与交通设计对完全自动驾驶卡车的承载适配能力，涵盖入口、出口及连接匝道；（二）在关键路段开展微观交通仿真，以呈现现存设计问题并论证推荐的优化方案；（三）针对上述基础设施改造项目开展初步成本估算。