  Many of the anticipated advantages of connected and automated vehicles or
automated vehicles without connectivity (CAVs and AVs respectively) on
congestion and energy consumption are questionable. Some studies provide
quantitative answers to the above questions through microsimulation but they
systematically ignore the realistic simulation of vehicle dynamics, driver
behaviour or instantaneous emissions estimates, mostly due to the overall
increased complexity of the transport systems and the need for low
computational demand on large-scale simulations. However, recent studies
question the capability of common car-following models to produce realistic
vehicle dynamics or driving behaviour, which directly impacts emissions
estimations as well. This work presents a microsimulation study that
contributes on the topic, using a scenario-based approach to give insights
regarding the impact of CAVs and AVs on the evolution of emissions over a
highway network. The motivation here is to answer whether the different driving
behaviours produce significant differences in emissions during rush hours, and
how significant is the impact of detailed vehicle dynamics simulation and
instantaneous emissions in the outcome.
