Cooperative Driving in Mixed Traffic: An Infrastructure-Assisted Approach

Automated driving in urban traffic requires extensive information from the surroundings. The most promisring approach to facilitate automated driving in mixed traffic is platooning of connected and automated vehicles (CAV). In this research, we investigate a human-leading strategy (HL) by which CAVs drive in platoons with the CAV leading the platoon driven by a human. We thoroughly formulate the problem of managing CAV platoons by the HL strategy, systematically model the platoon dynamics and the traffic system, as well as propose two approaches to implement this strategy. By conducting experiments in a simulation framework that combines the traffic and the communication network, the implementation of the HL strategy is evaluated with the consideration of travel time, automated driving experience, and communication reliability. The simulation results revealed that the HL strategy makes it feasible for CAVs to drive in automated mode in an urban mixed traffic network, while its performance relies on the CAV penetration rate and communication reliability. In addition, the results suggest that the performance of the HL strategy can be significantly improved by approaches that allow uninterrupted platooning and result in stable platoon dynamics

Managing Connected Automated Vehicles in Mixed Traffic Considering Communication Reliability : A Platooning Strategy

Managing connected and automated vehicles (CAV) in mixed traffic scenario necessitates special attention when introducing them into the market. The coexistence of CAVs and non-CAVs leads to complex interactions. To simplify the interactions in the envisioned scenario, a strategy that operates CAVs in a platoon which is led by a CAV driven by a human is proposed in this paper. Implementing this strategy in practice requires feasible platooning approaches of assigning CAV roles in platoons (i.e. to be a leader or a follower) and reliable communication between CAVs and roadside units (RSU). Two rudimentary rule-based approaches are designed in this paper and examined in a micro-simulation. All CAVs are assumed to be V2X enabled. CAVs start communicating with each other and RSU when they enter the CAV zone. The RSU require CAVs to follow a certain platooning approach and CAVs cooperate with each other to form platoons. The impacts of different platooning approaches and communication reliability level are evaluated by total travel time and the automated driving mode duration. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V