Benefit-cost Analysis-based Modeling of the Self-driving Freight Line

Abstract

China has a massive road freight volume and cargo turnover forming a vast market, but some problems need to be solved urgently. With the rapid development of self-driving systems, the establishment of dedicated freight lines based on self-driving trucks may bring many advantages. An analysis model integrating multiple indexes, including essential operation, time, environment and safety was proposed using the benefit-cost analysis (BCA) method. A case study was carried out according to the actual data of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, comparing the diesel-driven and electric-driven self-driving freight lines with the conventional transportation scheme. The analysis result indicates that the diesel-driven self-driving freight line has obvious benefits compared with the conventional scheme. Still, the electric-driven self-driving freight line reflects increased cost on the contrary, which is limited by the current battery technology level.