Over the last few years, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have witnessed tremendous worldwide interest. Although AVs have been extensively studied in the literature regarding their benefits, implications, and public acceptance, research on the physical infrastructure requirements for autonomous vehicles is still in the infancy stage. For the road infrastructure, AVs can be very promising; however, AVs might introduce new risks and challenges. This paper investigates the impact of AVs on the physical infrastructure with the objective of revealing the infrastructure changes and challenges in the era of AVs. In AVs, the human factor, which is the major factor that influences the geometric design, will not be a concern anymore so the geometric design requirements can be relaxed. On the other hand, the decrease in the wheel wander, because of the lane-keeping system, and the increase in the lane capacity, because of the elimination of the human factor, will bring an accelerated rutting potential and will quickly deteriorate the pavement condition. Additionally, the existing structural design methods for bridges are not safe to support autonomous truck platoons. For parking lots, AVs have the potential to significantly increase the capacity of parking lots using the blocking strategy. However, the implementation of this parking strategy faces multiple issues such as the inconsistent marking system. Finally, AVs will need new infrastructure facilities such as safe harbor areas.

The global energy demand has been increasing and posing multiple challenges across the globe, including global warming, environmental pollution, and energy-sustainability issues. Thus, multiple countries have been adopting renewable-energy (RE) sources to provide clean, reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy. Previously, a number of renewable energy projects has been delivered in the form of a public–private partnership (PPP) to take advantage of the private sector’s investment, technology advancements, and expertise. In general, renewable-energy projects are considered large-scale universal projects that involve expertise from different countries and require a clear understanding of the barriers and key success factors (KSFs) across the globe. Thus, this paper focuses on providing a comprehensive understanding of the main barriers and success factors of renewable-energy projects across the globe. For that aim, a comprehensive literature review was first carried out to identify and report on the barriers and KSFs of renewable-energy projects. This was followed by a questionnaire survey wherein the opinions of 60 experts with wide experience in RE PPPs in multiple countries were collected and analyzed. The analysis shows that political and regulatory barriers are the main risks globally. Additionally, well-prepared contract documentations and skilled and efficient parties are the KSFs. However, these factors change from one continent to another. Additionally, this paper sheds light on the difference between the public and private sectors’ perceptions on the severity of the risks and the importance of the KSFs to each sector.

Exclusive bus lane (EBL) is one of the most common transit prioritization strategies implemented to improve transit speed. However, one major drawback of implementing EBLs is the associated reduction in road capacity left for other road users. In corridors with EBLs and infrequent bus service, the lanes are underutilized for extended periods of time. Dynamic bus lane (DBL), a new priority strategy enabled by vehicle connectivity, can provide buses with priority while allowing the general traffic to access the bus lane when buses are not present. Although the DBL concept is promising, a limited number of studies have explored its effectiveness under various conditions. Thus, this paper investigates the impacts of DBLs through a comparison with EBLs and mixed traffic operation under different levels of traffic demand and transit frequency. As a case study, the Eglinton East corridor in Toronto, Canada, was simulated using Aimsun Next, and different scenarios of behavioral impacts were considered in the analysis. The results reveal that DBL is a promising strategy with potential to improve the overall corridor performance over a wide range of traffic and transit service conditions, especially under intermediate traffic demand levels. On the other hand, EBL can be an efficient prioritization strategy that improves the overall corridor performance under high traffic demand and high transit frequency levels, but only if accompanied by a major mode shift from auto to transit.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to offer a large number of benefits such as reducing the energy consumed and reducing the anxiety of the drivers. On the other side, the degree to which AVs will be adopted mainly depends on the public attitude and acceptance of this emerging technology. Over the last few years, AVs got involved in multiple accidents with different levels of severity. These accidents were widely covered in the media, creating a debate about the safety of this technology and discouraging people from adopting this new technology even if it offers a safer environment. In this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted to understand the impact of accidents involving AVs on the public perception of this technology for respondents with different demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, income, and prior knowledge about AVs). The results show the most negative shift in the attitude occurs for respondents who are older, female, and have no prior knowledge about AVs or their incidents. Additionally, the results shed light on the importance of educating the public about AVs in order to guarantee the highest level of acceptance. Finally, the findings of this paper can help AVs developer, policymakers, and transport planning agencies in understating the public attitude after accidents in order to react properly to avoid discouraging people from adopting AVs.