Assessing the Impacts of Connected-Vehicle Technology on Work Zone Rear-End Collisions: Agent-Based Modeling Approach

The objective of this paper is to assess the impacts of connected vehicle technology on work zone rear-end collisions through an agent-based modeling approach. This research is primarily motivated by the lack of a systematic evaluation platform to verify the safety benefits of connected vehicle technology in diverse settings such as a work zone, caused by a lane drop and speed reduction. The guiding research question is when the safety benefits will start to show as the market penetration of connected vehicles increase, and to what extent it reduces the occurrence probability of the rear-end collisions. Preliminary results hold promises in (1) the reduction of rear-end collisions in work zones; (2) reducing the variance of the time headway distribution; (3) the nonlinear relationship between safety benefits and market penetration; and (4) a potential path to “Vision Zero.” These results will inform the implementation of connected vehicle technologies at the state or federal level to strike the delicate balance between costs and benefits.