Coordination and Analysis of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in Freeway On-Ramp Merging Areas

Freeway on-ramps are typical bottlenecks in the freeway network, where the merging maneuvers of ramp vehicles impose frequent disturbances on the traffic flow and cause negative impacts on traffic safety and efficiency. The emerging Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) hold the potential for regulating the behaviors of each individual vehicle and are expected to substantially improve the traffic operation at freeway on-ramps. The aim of this research is to explore the possibilities of optimally facilitating freeway on-ramp merging operation through the coordination of CAVs, and to discuss the impacts of CAVs on the traffic performance at on-ramp merging.In view of the existing research efforts and gaps in the field of CAV on-ramp merging operation, a novel CAV merging coordination strategy is proposed by creating large gaps on the main road and directing the ramp vehicles into the created gaps in the form of platoon. The combination of gap creation and platoon merging jointly facilitates the mainline and ramp traffic and targets at the optimal performance at the traffic flow level. The coordination consists of three components: (1) mainline vehicles proactively decelerate to create large merging gaps; (2) ramp vehicles form platoons before entering the main road; (3) the gaps created on the main road and the platoons formed on the ramp are coordinated with each other in terms of size, speed, and arrival time. The coordination is analytically formulated as an optimization problem, incorporating the macroscopic and microscopic traffic flow models. The model uses traffic state parameters as inputs and determines the optimal coordination plan adaptive to real-time traffic conditions.The impacts of CAV coordination strategies on traffic efficiency are investigated through illustrative case studies conducted on microscopic traffic simulation platforms. The results show substantial improvements in merging efficiency, throughput, and traffic flow stability. In addition, the safety benefits of CAVs in the absence of specially designed cooperation strategies are investigated to reveal the CAV’s ability to eliminate critical human factors in the ramp merging process

Contributions to the 10th International Cycling Safety Conference 2022 (ICSC2022)

This publication contains all contributions (extended abstracts) to the 10th International Cycling Safety Conference, which was held in Dresden, Germany, Nov. 08-10, 2022

Key technologies for safe and autonomous drones

Drones/UAVs are able to perform air operations that are very difficult to be performed by manned aircrafts. In addition, drones' usage brings significant economic savings and environmental benefits, while reducing risks to human life. In this paper, we present key technologies that enable development of drone systems. The technologies are identified based on the usages of drones (driven by COMP4DRONES project use cases). These technologies are grouped into four categories: U-space capabilities, system functions, payloads, and tools. Also, we present the contributions of the COMP4DRONES project to improve existing technologies. These contributions aim to ease drones’ customization, and enable their safe operation.This project has received funding from the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 826610. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Spain, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands. The total project budget is 28,590,748.75 EUR (excluding ESIF partners), while the requested grant is 7,983,731.61 EUR to ECSEL JU, and 8,874,523.84 EUR of National and ESIF Funding. The project has been started on 1st October 2019

Strategic and Tactical Guidance for the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Future

Autonomous vehicle (AV) and Connected vehicle (CV) technologies are rapidly maturing and the timeline for their wider deployment is currently uncertain. These technologies are expected to have a number of significant societal benefits: traffic safety, improved mobility, improved road efficiency, reduced cost of congestion, reduced energy use, and reduced fuel emissions. State and local transportation agencies need to understand what this means for them and what they need to do now and in the next few years to prepare for the AV/CV future. In this context, the objectives of this research are as follows: Synthesize the existing state of practice and how other state agencies are addressing the pending transition to AV/CV environment Estimate the impacts of AV/CV environment within the context of (a) traffic operations—impact of headway distribution and traffic signal coordination; (b) traffic control devices; (c) roadway safety in terms of intersection crashes Provide a strategic roadmap for INDOT in preparing for and responding to potential issues This research is divided into two parts. The first part is a synthesis study of existing state of practice in the AV/CV context by conducting an extensive literature review and interviews with other transportation agencies. Based on this, we develop a roadmap for INDOT and similar agencies clearly delineating how they should invest in AV/CV technologies in the short, medium, and long term. The second part assesses the impacts of AV/CVs on mobility and safety via modeling in microsimulation software Vissim

Optimization and Control of Cyber-Physical Vehicle Systems

A cyber-physical system (CPS) is composed of tightly-integrated computation, communication and physical elements. Medical devices, buildings, mobile devices, robots, transportation and energy systems can benefit from CPS co-design and optimization techniques. Cyber-physical vehicle systems (CPVSs) are rapidly advancing due to progress in real-time computing, control and artificial intelligence. Multidisciplinary or multi-objective design optimization maximizes CPS efficiency, capability and safety, while online regulation enables the vehicle to be responsive to disturbances, modeling errors and uncertainties. CPVS optimization occurs at design-time and at run-time. This paper surveys the run-time cooperative optimization or co-optimization of cyber and physical systems, which have historically been considered separately. A run-time CPVS is also cooperatively regulated or co-regulated when cyber and physical resources are utilized in a manner that is responsive to both cyber and physical system requirements. This paper surveys research that considers both cyber and physical resources in co-optimization and co-regulation schemes with applications to mobile robotic and vehicle systems. Time-varying sampling patterns, sensor scheduling, anytime control, feedback scheduling, task and motion planning and resource sharing are examined

Risk analysis of autonomous vehicle and its safety impact on mixed traffic stream

In 2016, more than 35,000 people died in traffic crashes, and human error was the reason for 94% of these deaths. Researchers and automobile companies are testing autonomous vehicles in mixed traffic streams to eliminate human error by removing the human driver behind the steering wheel. However, recent autonomous vehicle crashes while testing indicate the necessity for a more thorough risk analysis. The objectives of this study were (1) to perform a risk analysis of autonomous vehicles and (2) to evaluate the safety impact of these vehicles in a mixed traffic stream. The overall research was divided into two phases: (1) risk analysis and (2) simulation of autonomous vehicles. Risk analysis of autonomous vehicles was conducted using the fault tree method. Based on failure probabilities of system components, two fault tree models were developed and combined to predict overall system reliability. It was found that an autonomous vehicle system could fail 158 times per one-million miles of travel due to either malfunction in vehicular components or disruption from infrastructure components. The second phase of this research was the simulation of an autonomous vehicle, where change in crash frequency after autonomous vehicle deployment in a mixed traffic stream was assessed. It was found that average travel time could be reduced by about 50%, and 74% of conflicts, i.e., traffic crashes, could be avoided by replacing 90% of the human drivers with autonomous vehicles

The viability of 'embedded Ethics' in robotic military systems without humans in the decision loop

Presentation at the "Zagreb Applied Ethics Conference 2017: The Ethics of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence". Matica hrvatska - ZAGREB, CROATIA. 5-7 JUNE, 2017.The social regulation of robotic systems with some elements of inbuilt artificial intelligence, and capable of interacting with the physical world without human control, poses challenges of extraordinary complexity. In particular, when their characteristics make them suitable for being used in military operations as autonomous devices under specific conditions. My purpose is to do a case-study research about the viability of some elements of "embedded Ethics" in different devices, with built-in sensors and a variable range of functionality, starting with Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS). Based on the revision of recent literature and prototypes, the expected results should give a clearer perspective about the viability of 'embedded Ethics' instructions in the programming of intelligent robotic systems, including those intended for military use. As a preliminary conclusion, the heterogeneity of designs, lethal capacity and degrees of functional complexity in operational contexts –highly unpredictable-, reinforces the importance of preserving human intervention in the decision loop, when the lapse for the sequence of decisions makes it possible. [Additional references available in: http://sl.ugr.es/zaec2017]La regulación social de los sistemas robóticos con elementos de inteligencia artificial incorporados, y capaces de interactuar con el mundo físico sin control humano, plantea desafíos de extraordinaria complejidad. En particular, cuando sus características los hacen aptos para ser utilizadas en operaciones militares como dispositivos autónomos bajo condiciones específicas. Mi propósito es realizar una investigación de casos relevantes para estudiar la viabilidad de algunos elementos de "ética embebida" en diferentes dispositivos, con sensores incorporados y rango variable de funcionalidad, comenzando con los sistemas de armas autónomas (AWS). Una revisión de la literatura reciente y de diversos prototipos en desarrollo podría ofrecer una perspectiva más clara sobre la viabilidad de instrucciones éticas incorporadas en la programación de sistemas robóticos inteligentes, incluidos los destinados al uso militar. Como conclusión preliminar, la heterogeneidad de los diseños, capacidad letal y grados de complejidad funcional en contextos operativos -muy impredecibles- refuerzan la importancia de preservar la intervención humana en el bucle de decisión, cuando el lapso de la secuencia de decisiones lo hace posible. [Additional references available in: http://sl.ugr.es/zaec2017]Supported by R+D Project [ref. FFI2016-79000-P]: "Artificial Intelligence and moral bio-enhancement. Ethical aspects" (IP: F.D. Lara). State Program for the Promotion of Scientific and Technical Research of Excellence, Subprogram of Knowledge Generation. Oct. 2016 - Sept. 2019

Share the Sky: Concepts and Technologies That Will Shape Future Airspace Use

The airspace challenge for the United States is to protect national sovereignty and ensure the safety and security of those on the ground and in the air, while at the same time ensuring the efficiency of flight, reducing the costs involved, protecting the environment, and protecting the freedom of access to the airspace. Many visions of the future NAS hold a relatively near-term perspective, focusing on existing uses of the airspace and assuming that new uses will make up a small fraction of total use. In the longer term, the skies will be filled with diverse and amazing new air vehicles filling our societal needs. Anticipated new vehicles include autonomous air vehicles acting both independently and in coordinated groups, unpiloted cargo carriers, and large numbers of personal air vehicles and small-scale point-to-point transports. These vehicles will enable new capabilities that have the potential to increase societal mobility, transport freight at lower cost and with lower environmental impact, improve the study of the Earth s atmosphere and ecosystem, and increase societal safety and security by improving or drastically lowering the cost of critical services such as firefighting, emergency medical evacuation, search and rescue, border and neighborhood surveillance, and the inspection of our infrastructure. To ensure that uses of the airspace can continue to grow for the benefit of all, a new paradigm for operations is needed: equitably and safely sharing the airspace. This paper is an examination of such a vision, concentrating on the operations of all types of air vehicles and future uses of the National Airspace. Attributes of a long-term future airspace system are provided, emerging operations technologies are described, and initial steps in research and development are recommended