Physical infrastructure investment important to support CAVs

Experts say road agencies should focus now on upgrading road signs, traffic signals and pavement markings to successfully support the operations of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs).

New ARRB research, in a report funded and published by Austroads, addresses which infrastructure types should be prioritised for investment, as well as the timing and scale for that investment.

"In the immediate and short term (next 5 years), the report recommends that road agencies focus on implementing changes to Traffic Control Devices (TCDs – signs and traffic signals), to increase their interpretability to both current and emerging CAVs," report authors Simon Xue, Elli Irannezhad and Charles Karl say.

"A further focus area is improving the visibility of line markings to support the operational safety of CAVs."

The report also offers advice on medium and long-term focuses, including that the focus of infrastructure investment shifts from supporting partial automation to supporting full automation.

Download the report here

Register to be part of a FREE Austroads webinar on the report here