Mathematical Model Found Fully Automated Vehicle Deployment Can Potentially Decreased Household Daily Activity-Related Travel Time Between 6.7 and 15.2 Minutes in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Research Study Modeled Household Travel Activities as a Vehicle Routing Problem in Two Popular Tourist Destinations in Hawaii.
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Effects of Tourism on Rural Roads & Rural Delivery With CAV
Summary Information
Rural highways near recreational or tourist attractions can experience substantial congestion and may face higher-than-usual traffic safety risks. This study focused on the case of two congestion black spots but also popular tourist attracting beaches on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii; Laniakea Beach and Shark’s Cove, located within five miles of each other and served solely by a two-lane rural highway. The researchers in this study met with the local communities and collected traffic volume and pedestrian crossing data in 2019 to understand the extent of the congestion problem in the study area. This study included investigation of the impacts of fully Automated Vehicles (AVs) on household travel-activity patterns using the 2012 Oahu Household Travel Survey, and various performance metrics such as the total travel time across all household vehicles and the total number of vehicles required to complete the set of out-of-home activities.
METHODOLOGY
This study used the perspective of households as vehicle fleet dispatchers to service out-of-home activities. Data on the scheduling constraints and transportation system performance levels such as travel times, were assembled for each household’s individual Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). Analogous service systems include delivery logistics providers, rideshare companies, and emergency response services. Decision criteria in the VRP included “pick-up/delivery of activities” and the objective of minimizing travel time and idle time of the vehicle. In this study, a mathematical programming approach was adopted for its ability to account for sequencing and timing of activities and location visits relative to an objective function of generalized costs and space-time constraints.
FINDINGS
- Results showed that the average marginal improvement from households in Wai'anae district in Oahu was 13.7 to 15.2 minutes, if AVs were used to complete the observed set of activities.
- Results also indicated that for East Honolulu, travel time savings due to AVs were estimated to be 6.7 to 9.6 minutes.
- Estimation results also showed that the Ewa district had a total travel time improvement of 11.9 minutes per household under an AV context.
