Autonomous vehicle and infrastructure demand: an expert opinion survey

Roadway infrastructure is a major transportation facility required for the deployment of autonomous vehicles. However, in the field of vehicle automation research, two critical questions are still unsolved: “Is the current roadway infrastructure sufficient for such highly autonomous vehicles?” and “How can the current roadway infrastructure be assessed to understand whether it is sufficient for such high-level autonomous vehicles or not?” A survey was conducted to answer these questions and to determine essential roadway infrastructure for the safe and successful deployment of highly autonomous vehicles. This study identified that GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning and accuracy, real-time incident updates, detailed mapping, secure data sharing, and connectivity with infrastructure (V2X) are highly important digital roadway infrastructure for automated driving systems. Moreover, experts prioritize vulnerable road user facilities, winter road maintenance strategy, road markings, and roadway visibility among physical roadway infrastructure as highly important. This study might be useful for various stakeholders involved in autonomous vehicle deployment by focusing on roadway infrastructure issues that require attention.