Going with the flow

According to a new Audi study entitled ‘25th Hour - Flow’, traffic congestion in the future could be cut by as much as a third, even with more than 10 percent more people on the road. The collaborative study between Audi, the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) and the Munich consultancy MobilityPartners simulated the future mobility in Ingolstadt – Audi’s home base in Germany – and found that a lasting reduction in travel times could be achieved on a typical commute by one third in fully automated traffic.

With fleets of self-driving cars and smarter traffic management, as well as a higher occupancy rates in each vehicle, the very idea of congestion during rush hour drops away dramatically.

Connected, automated and shared vehicles also provide cities with new opportunities to use and reallocate space to improve urban quality of life. For example, the study found that the incorporation of fully autonomous vehicles could repurpose one traffic lane in a four-lane network and dedicate this new space to pedestrians or bikes instead of vehicles. The study takes into account that, with an increasing number of autonomous cars, more senior citizens and children without a driver’s license have access to mobility, and convenient robo-taxis will compete with local public transportation.

“The results suggest that autonomous cars, mobility services, and networked infrastructure can significantly reduce congestion and road space. At the same time, more young and old people can travel safely and conveniently. In this way, the quality of life in cities will be improved dramatically. These findings encourage us to continue our investment in the future: in self-driving cars such as the Audi Aicon, services like Audi on demand, or networked technology such as Audi traffic-light information,” says Melanie Goldmann, head of Trend Communication at Audi. 

Of course the result relies on a significant take up of autonomous vehicles and an increase in ride sharing.

For example, the number of self-driving cars required to provide a noticeable improvement in traffic flow in Ingolstadt today would be 40 percent! But the benefits of increasingly automated traffic are interesting and indeed compelling. 

Unlike people, computers maintain the necessary distance to other vehicles, do not drive too fast, and obey all traffic signals. Journey times are noticeably cut only with an increasing number of autonomous cars: if the roads in Ingolstadt today were used only by autonomous vehicles, travel times would fall by one quarter. 

Today, on average, drivers spend about 50 minutes per day at the wheel. In the ‘25th Hour’ project, since 2017 Audi has been investigating how self-driving cars will change our everyday lives. In the future will we continue to spend almost an hour a day in the car? In addition, the traveling time in the self-driving car can be put to good use: passengers talk, relax or work. In collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO), Audi is investigating how, for example, the interior of the car can become a perfect workplace. For Audi’s strategists and designers, the answers to such questions are highly relevant. Digitalisation and urbanisation transform cities, mobility and user behaviour. Vehicle concepts, however, are being developed today – and have to blend smartly and efficiently with developing mobility systems in the future.