Active Transportation and Community Health Impacts of Automated Vehicle Scenarios: An Integration of the San Francisco Bay Area Activity Based Travel Demand Model and the Integrated Transport and Health Impacts Model (ITHIM)

Abstract

This project evaluated the potential human health impacts from connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) scenarios in the San Francisco Bay Area. The study concentrates on impacts derived from AVs’ effects on travel demand, safety, and environmental emissions. The study combined an extensive literature review about the extent of such effects, expert judgement, and results from activity-based travel modeling, to quantify the human health impacts of CAVs using the Integrated Transport and Health Impacts Model (ITHIM). Specifically, ITHIM estimates the impacts considering changes in travel demand (e.g., vehicle miles traveled) and levels of physical activity. The results show significant opportunities for road traffic injury reductions, as well as mitigation of environmental emissions. However, reduced physical activity from the mode shift to passenger vehicles (from active travel) could increase the cases of human health issues (e.g. diabetes and lung cancer). Moreover, the authors explored a set of scenarios that could mitigate some of the health-related disbenefits from CAVs.