  In a mini-review [Physica A {\bf 392} (2013) 5261--5282] it has been shown
that classical traffic flow theories and models failed to explain empirical
traffic breakdown -- a phase transition from metastable free flow to
synchronized flow at highway bottlenecks. The main objective of this
mini-review is to study the consequence of this failure of classical
traffic-flow theories for an analysis of empirical stochastic highway capacity
as well as for the effect of automatic driving vehicles and cooperative driving
on traffic flow. To reach this goal, we show a deep connection between the
understanding of empirical stochastic highway capacity and a reliable analysis
of automatic driving vehicles in traffic flow. With the use of simulations in
the framework of three-phase traffic theory, a probabilistic analysis of the
effect of automatic driving vehicles on a mixture traffic flow consisting of a
random distribution of automatic driving and manual driving vehicles has been
made. We have found that the parameters of automatic driving vehicles can
either decrease or increase the probability of traffic breakdown. The increase
in the probability of traffic breakdown, i.e., the deterioration of the
performance of the traffic system can occur already at a small percentage
(about 5$\%$) of automatic driving vehicles. The increase in the probability of
traffic breakdown through automatic driving vehicles can be realized, even if
any platoon of automatic driving vehicles satisfies condition for string
stability.

Physics and Society