Coordinated Planning of Autonomous Electric Vehicle Fleets and Infrastructure in Coupled Transportation-Power Networks

As a key component of future smart cities, autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) present new opportunities and challenges for urban transportation and power systems. This paper proposes a coordinated planning framework that optimizes AEV fleet size, siting and sizing of charging stations, and distribution network upgrades under a coupled transportation network (TN) and distribution network (DN). A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to minimize total investment cost by integrating real-world travel demand, travel speed, and power system capacity and operational constraints. The model is validated on a 24-node New York City taxi transportation network and a 14-node high-voltage distribution network. Results show that, compared with the case without substation expansion, the proposed integrated approach reduces fleet size by 6.8%, the number of charging stations and piles by 28% and 13%, respectively, and total investment cost by 6%. Sensitivity analyses reveal trade-offs among battery capacity, charging power, and both fleet and infrastructure investments. The proposed model provides practical insights for AEV fleet and infrastructure planning under realistic urban conditions.