Author(s): Likinaw Ayenew and Dr. Yonas Minalu

Abstract: Vehicle users have been raising in Addis Ababa following the rapid growth and urbanization of the city. Recent reports indicated that the total number of vehicles in Addis Ababa accounts half of the total vehicles registered in Ethiopia. The significant increase in vehicles in the city results in traffic performance and safety-related challenges like traffic accidents, traffic congestion, and delays. Hence, this study aims to evaluate such problems by introducing autonomous vehicles into the mixed traffic of the city. Both primary and secondary data were used to conduct this study, and the data was analyzed using simulation of urban mobility (SUMO) and statistical software analysis (SPSS). A total of six road sections and eight scenarios were considered in this study at 25% intervals. All vehicles were included for the first five scenarios whereas for sections VI, VII, and VIII, only cars and minibusses were considered. The SUMO analysis provided that when human-driving vehicles are replaced with autonomous vehicles at a rate of 25% to 100%, the average travel time is reduced by 12.7% to 60.8% and 24.3% to 73.7% on peak hours of low and high traffic roads. Meanwhile, the average travel speed and time to collision have improved from 8.1% to 31.5% and 3.2% to 7.9% on low-traffic roads. On high-traffic roads, they are improved from 28.9% to 77.5% and 4.7% to 20.3%. Also, on low and high road gradients, the average travel time was reduced from 23.16% to 60.64% and 38.2% to 69.1% whereas the average travel speed improved from 19.7% to 56.72% and 4.7% to 26%, while time to collision is improved from 28.57% to 73.91% and 6.2% to 28.2% respectively. In addition, on signalized and non-intersection roads, the average travel time is reduced from 32.2% to 74.4% and 35.3% to 76.9%, whereas the average travel speed is improved from 17.88% to 48.8% and 20.7% to 61.99% while time to collision is improved from 2.75 to 10.1% and 4.8% to 18.5% respectively. In conclusion, the paper highlights the impacts and provides insight into taking the necessary corrective actions to mitigate the impacts of the progressively rising number of vehicles.

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