Analyzing the Impact of Autonomous Maintenance Technology to Transportation Infrastructure Capacity for Condition Monitoring and Performance Management

Abstract

ORSO 135461Work zones are critical for efficient and safe operation of a highway transportation system. Performing the maintenance required for a roadway infrastructure, however, could involve risks. In 2017 alone, a total of 158,000 total vehicle crashes occurred in our nation\u2019s work zones, accounting for 61,000 injuries [1]. Many of these frequently involved State Department of Transportation (DOT) employees. The Autonomous Maintenance Technology (AMT) is a quickly emerging autonomous-vehicle-based technology for improving transportation infrastructure maintenance by removing drivers from risk. Its impact to transportation capacity, although critically important to transportation infrastructure condition monitoring and performance management, has not been studied before. In this project, models and algorithms are developed to reveal the fundamental working mechanism of AMT, and analyze the resulted traffic flow capacity discount associated with AMT vehicles as a moving bottleneck