Effect of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles on Traffic Safety

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) with their predicted advantages are becoming reality. But it’s important that experts and scientists find out the advantages and disadvantages of the aforementioned technology before it becomes real. As a result, some studies have been conducted in recent years. According to the literature, CAVs can lead to a safer and more comfortable transportation at a lower price and they also improve capacity of transportation network. In this study, different aspects of CAV technology including its long-term and short-term effects have been assessed, but this study has mainly focused on how CAVs affect traffic safety. One may challenge the claims about advantages of CAVs and label them as exaggerated, because CAVs may eliminate driver mistakes but they cannot prevent vehicle and road problems. According to the past studies near 90 percent of accidents happen as a result of human mistake and CAVs may help lower number of accidents by reducing the role of human in driving. On the other hand, connected vehicles can alarm the driver if the vehicle is getting close to an obstacle including pedestrians and other vehicles, therefore pedestrian casualties may get substantially lower by applying connected vehicle technology.