On the traffic impact of risk-aware autonomous vehicle routing strategies

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) face a variety of challenging driving situations in ever more complex road infrastructures designed with human drivers in mind. Despite an increasing driving intelligence, a possible answer to complex road infrastructure or the proximity of vulnerable road users may be to alter CAV driving strategies to avoid potential risky or complex driving situations. In this paper, we make a first study on the impact of strict risk-aware routing strategies on urban traffic. Simulationbased results showed that, if a large amount of CAV are statically routed to

avoid risky areas, mixed effects on traffic can be observed. While the travel time for human-driven vehicles was reduced, an increased length of queues among the road network led to increased pollutant emissions.