Automation-ready framework for urban transport and road infrastructure planning

"Automation-ready" is currently defined in the H2020 CoEXist project as the capability to conduct transport and infrastructure planning with the incorporation of connected and automated vehicles (CAV) in the same comprehensive manner as for existing modes in future plans, where they complement and coexist with conventional vehicles, public transport, pedestrians and cyclists, to achieve and support higher sustainable mobility goals. This definition will be fine-tuned through stakeholder engagement processes. The H2020 CoEXist project started in May 2017 and will run until April 2020. This paper introduces this project and covers its progress until January 2018, with a focus on the methodology of the "Automation-ready framework" that provides a planning framework for urban road authorities to prepare for the introduction of CAVs on the road network. The two Stuttgart use cases (among the eight use cases in CoEXist) are also elaborated in this paper. The framework includes elements about strategic urban mobility planning for CAVs and a clear guide for urban transport planners with a list of concrete actions that cities can do now to plan for CAVs on their road network.