Integration of a Light Rail Transit with Autonomous (driverless) Vehicles

Transportation has been a key aspect of human civilisation since before the Industrial revolution. It enabled the movement of people and goods for various reasons such as social, economic or political. Transportation was initially primitive, however, as the world began to technologically advance, there has been additional modes of transport to the generic land and water modes, including air and railways. The infrastructure used by all these modes has also improved providing durable assets to the mode users. Australian transport planners are investigating the idea of Autonomous Vehicles on the current transport networks. This mainly focus on road vehicles at this stage, but has the potential to be expanded into rail, water and air transport modes. This research project identified an opportunity to investigate utilisation the upcoming technological advancement as an integral part of a Light Rail Transit so as to provide a better service to the mode users. This will also reduce the potential for network disruption as the new technology emerges or even the inevitable redundancy of some portions of the current transport networks. This research project conducted an opinion survey of the locals in Gungahlin region and simulated the existing and future transport behaviour in the local district of Gunghalin transport network. Several scenarios were simulated and involved the alteration of the Autonomous Vehicle penetration into the transport network and reported on the identified impacts on the network and vehicle attributes. The key benefits of efficiently implementing the integration of the current and emerging technology in the transportation system is the viability of utilising the current infrastructure, with some modifications to provide a better service to the system users, improving the economic, social and political benefits in the society