Traffic can be one of the most frustrating parts of a morning or afternoon commute. Unless you’re getting to work super early, it is very likely that traffic can add 15 minutes to your drive. Researchers have found that when autonomous vehicles are added to bulk traffic, traffic flow and fuel consumption are actually boosted. The research was conducted by Benedetto Piccoli and his team of researchers from Rutgers University-Camden.

Researchers conducting tests in Tucson, Arizona in July 2017. Source: Rutgers University

Humans naturally create stop-and-go traffic. Drivers become more likely to slow down or stop when someone else is changing a lane or merging, even if slowing down isn’t completely necessary. By controlling the pace of the autonomous car during the experiments, researchers found that the autonomous car helped to dissipate stop and go traffic. The experiments showed that even if only 5 percent of the cars on the road were autonomous cars, it could reduce total fuel consumption by up to 40 percent and braking events by up to 99 percent.

The team presented their findings at the Washington Auto Show in Washington D.C. There they discussed the findings with auto industry leaders, policymakers and government officials.

During the show, the researchers gave attendees an opportunity to experience their findings through virtual reality and watching a 3D representation of the experiments. The VR had the user in one autonomous vehicle on a track with 20 other “human” driven cars.

"Most of the policymakers, car manufacturers, car dealers and others we talked with were very impressed with the research results and got a positive feeling about autonomous vehicles," says Piccoli. "They all agreed that the impact on real traffic economy and environmental impact could be of great importance."

A paper on this research, “Dissipation of Stop-and-Go Waves via Control of Autonomous Vehicles: Field Experiments” will be published on Transportation Research Part C.