Multi-objective road pricing: a cooperative and competitive bilevel optimization approach

Costs associated with traffic externalities such as congestion, air pollution, noise, safety, etcetera are becoming unbearable. The Braess paradox shows that combating congestion by adding infrastructure may not improve traffic conditions, and geographical and/or financial constraints may not allow infrastructure expansion. Road pricing presents an alternative to combat traffic externalities. The traditional way of road pricing, namely congestion charging, may create negative benefits for society. In this effect, we develop a flexible pricing scheme internalizing costs arising from all externalities. Using a game theoretical approach, we extend the single authority road pricing scheme to a pricing scheme with multiple authorities/regions (with likely contradicting objectives)

Adaptive driver modelling in ADAS to improve user acceptance: A study using naturalistic data

Accurate understanding of driver behaviour is crucial for future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. For user acceptance it is important that ADAS respect individual driving styles and adapt accordingly. Using data collected during a naturalistic driving study carried out at the University of Southampton, we assess existing models of driver acceleration and speed choice during car following and when cornering. We observe that existing models of driver behaviour that specify a preferred inter-vehicle spacing in car-following situations appear to be too prescriptive, with a wide range of acceptable spacings visible in the naturalistic data. Bounds on lateral acceleration during cornering from the literature are visible in the data, but appear to be influenced by the minimum cornering radii specified in design codes for UK roadway geometry. This analysis of existing driver models is used to suggest a small set of parameters that are sufficient to characterise driver behaviour in car-following and curve driving, which may be estimated in real-time by an ADAS to adapt to changing driver behaviour. Finally, we discuss applications to adaptive ADAS with the objectives of improving road safety and promoting eco-driving, and suggest directions for future researc

Automatic and efficient driving strategies while approaching a traffic light

Vehicle-infrastructure communication opens up new ways to improve traffic flow efficiency at signalized intersections. In this study, we assume that equipped vehicles can obtain information about switching times of relevant traffic lights in advance. This information is used to improve traffic flow by the strategies 'early braking', 'anticipative start', and 'flying start'. The strategies can be implemented in driver-information mode, or in automatic mode by an Adaptive Cruise Controller (ACC). Quality criteria include cycle-averaged capacity, driving comfort, fuel consumption, travel time, and the number of stops. By means of simulation, we investigate the isolated strategies and the complex interactions between the strategies and between equipped and non-equipped vehicles. As universal approach to assess equipment level effects we propose relative performance indexes and found, at a maximum speed of 50 km/h, improvements of about 15% for the number of stops and about 4% for the other criteria. All figures double when increasing the maximum speed to 70 km/h.Comment: Submitted to ITSC - 17th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation System

Formation flight investigation for highly efficient future civil transport aircraft

Formation flight could greatly assist the air transport industry in tackling the challenges of environmental impact, excessive reliance on fuel and overcapacity. Previous studies have shown drag reductions leading to significant fuel savings for aircraft in formation relative to their solo flight. Safety is guaranteed with the use of extended formation distances, and practical implementation issues could be solved in the near future. Since studies so far have focused on existing aircraft configurations and technology, a case study using a strut-braced wing airliner was carried out to ascertain its applicability to less conventional craft. The present results did not indicate such clear-cut benefits. If formation flight is to be successful and beneficial for the next generations of aircraft, it will be vital to consider its interaction with new technologies developed for highly efficient operation, in particular those aimed at reduction of aircraft drag such as laminar flow, and to do so early in the design of aerospace vehicles and wider systems