Automated and Cooperative Vehicle Merging at Highway On-Ramps
01 Apr 2017-IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (IEEE)-Vol. 18, Iss: 4, pp 780-789
TL;DR: This paper addresses the problem of optimally coordinating CAVs at merging roadways to achieve smooth traffic flow without stop-and-go driving with an optimization framework and an analytical closed-form solution that allows online coordination of vehicles at merging zones.
Abstract: Recognition of necessities of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) is gaining momentum. CAVs can improve both transportation network efficiency and safety through control algorithms that can harmonically use all existing information to coordinate the vehicles. This paper addresses the problem of optimally coordinating CAVs at merging roadways to achieve smooth traffic flow without stop-and-go driving. We present an optimization framework and an analytical closed-form solution that allows online coordination of vehicles at merging zones. The effectiveness of the efficiency of the proposed solution is validated through a simulation, and it is shown that coordination of vehicles can significantly reduce both fuel consumption and travel time.
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TL;DR: The developments and the research trends in coordination with the CAVs that have been reported in the literature to date are summarized and remaining challenges and potential future research directions are discussed.
Abstract: Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have the potential to improve safety by reducing and mitigating traffic accidents. They can also provide opportunities to reduce transportation energy consumption and emissions by improving traffic flow. Vehicle communication with traffic structures and traffic lights can allow individual vehicles to optimize their operation and account for unpredictable changes. This paper summarizes the developments and the research trends in coordination with the CAVs that have been reported in the literature to date. Remaining challenges and potential future research directions are also discussed.
685 citations
Cites background from "Automated and Cooperative Vehicle M..."
...Intersection coordination: The problem formulation proposed in [61] was reformulated as a decentralized problem of coordinating online a continuous flow of CAVs crossing two adjacent intersections in [91]....
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...Most recently, the problem of coordinating vehicles that are wirelessly connected to each other at merging roads was addressed in [60] and [61]....
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TL;DR: The review shows that first-order impacts on road capacity, fuel efficiency, emissions, and accidents risk are expected to be beneficial and the balance between the short-term benefits and long-term impacts of vehicle automation remains an open question.
607 citations
Additional excerpts
...…tests of their ACC and CACC control algorithms (see e.g. Eben Li, Li, & Wang, 2013; Kamal, Taguchi, & Yoshimura, 2016; Luo, Liu, Li, & Wang, 2010; Rios-torres & Malikopoulos, 2016; Wang, Hoogendoorn, Daamen, & van Arem, 2014) including controllers for hybrid electric vehicles (Luo, Chen, Zhang,…...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a control and planning architecture for CAVs, and surveys the state of the art on each functional block therein; the main focus is on techniques to improve energy efficiency.
363 citations
TL;DR: The solution of the throughput maximization problem depends only on the hard safety constraints imposed on CAVs and its structure enables a decentralized optimal control problem formulation for energy minimization, which shows substantial dual benefits of the proposed decentralized framework.
347 citations
TL;DR: This paper is an attempt to highlight the energy saving potential of connected and automated vehicles based on first principles of motion, optimal control theory, and a review of the vast but scattered eco-driving literature.
Abstract: Connected and automated vehicles (CAV) are marketed for their increased safety, driving comfort, and time saving potential. With much easier access to information, increased processing power, and precision control, they also offer unprecedented opportunities for energy efficient driving. This paper is an attempt to highlight the energy saving potential of connected and automated vehicles based on first principles of motion, optimal control theory, and a review of the vast but scattered eco-driving literature. We explain that connectivity to other vehicles and infrastructure allows better anticipation of upcoming events, such as hills, curves, slow traffic, state of traffic signals, and movement of neighboring vehicles. Automation allows vehicles to adjust their motion more precisely in anticipation of upcoming events, and save energy. Opportunities for cooperative driving could further increase energy efficiency of a group of vehicles by allowing them to move in a coordinated manner. Energy efficient motion of connected and automated vehicles could have a harmonizing effect on mixed traffic, leading to additional energy savings for neighboring vehicles.
297 citations
References
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TL;DR: The Mathematical Theory of Optimal Processes (MTOP) as mentioned in this paper is a mathematical theory of optimal processes that is closely related to our approach to optimal process analysis, but with a different focus.
Abstract: (1965). The Mathematical Theory of Optimal Processes. Journal of the Operational Research Society: Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 493-494.
2,827 citations
TL;DR: This article suggests an alternative mechanism for coordinating the movement of autonomous vehicles through intersections and demonstrates in simulation that this new mechanism has the potential to significantly outperform current intersection control technology--traffic lights and stop signs.
Abstract: Artificial intelligence research is ushering in a new era of sophisticated, mass-market transportation technology. While computers can already fly a passenger jet better than a trained human pilot, people are still faced with the dangerous yet tedious task of driving automobiles. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is the field that focuses on integrating information technology with vehicles and transportation infrastructure to make transportation safer, cheaper, and more efficient. Recent advances in ITS point to a future in which vehicles themselves handle the vast majority of the driving task. Once autonomous vehicles become popular, autonomous interactions amongst multiple vehicles will be possible. Current methods of vehicle coordination, which are all designed to work with human drivers, will be outdated. The bottleneck for roadway efficiency will no longer be the drivers, but rather the mechanism by which those drivers' actions are coordinated. While open-road driving is a well-studied and more-or-less-solved problem, urban traffic scenarios, especially intersections, are much more challenging.
We believe current methods for controlling traffic, specifically at intersections, will not be able to take advantage of the increased sensitivity and precision of autonomous vehicles as compared to human drivers. In this article, we suggest an alternative mechanism for coordinating the movement of autonomous vehicles through intersections. Drivers and intersections in this mechanism are treated as autonomous agents in a multiagent system. In this multiagent system, intersections use a new reservation-based approach built around a detailed communication protocol, which we also present. We demonstrate in simulation that our new mechanism has the potential to significantly outperform current intersection control technology--traffic lights and stop signs. Because our mechanism can emulate a traffic light or stop sign, it subsumes the most popular current methods of intersection control. This article also presents two extensions to the mechanism. The first extension allows the system to control human-driven vehicles in addition to autonomous vehicles. The second gives priority to emergency vehicles without significant cost to civilian vehicles. The mechanism, including both extensions, is implemented and tested in simulation, and we present experimental results that strongly attest to the efficacy of this approach.
1,163 citations
"Automated and Cooperative Vehicle M..." refers methods in this paper
...In this paper, we categorize an approach as centralized if there is at least one task in the system that is globally decided for all vehicles by a single central controller....
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01 May 1990
TL;DR: A detailed investigation of the performance and effectiveness of strategies for motorway congestion reduction involving metering and control on motorway access ramps showed that significant improvements in traffic conditions have been obtained as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A detailed investigation of the performance and effectiveness of strategies for motorway congestion reduction involving metering and control on motorway access ramps showed that significant improvements in traffic conditions have been obtained. This improvement is a function of the strategy tested. The best tested control strategy was found to be ALINEA, which was developed on the basis of classical control theory methods and which was the only strategy using feedback in a systematic way. Compared to beaconing, ALINEA leads to an increase of 3% with respect to the number of vehicles served, a decrease of 55% with respect to the time spent in congestion, and a decrease of 19% with respect to the mean travel time. ALINEA also proved superior in terms of the time during which the control override was active. Furthermore, this strategy diverts fewer vehicles than the other tested strategies. In fact, ALINEA was found to be a simple, efficient strategy which could be generalized in a coordinated ramp control scheme including the whole Boulevard Peripherique of Paris.
771 citations
Additional excerpts
...A decentralized optimal control framework whose solution yields for each vehicle the optimal acceleration/deceleration at any time in the sense of minimizing fuel consumption was presented in [26]....
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TL;DR: A simulation-based case study implemented on a hypothetical four-way single-lane approach intersection under varying congestion conditions showed that the CVIC algorithm significantly improved intersection performance compared with conventional actuated intersection control and improved air quality and energy savings.
Abstract: Under the Connected Vehicles (CV) environment, it is possible to create a Cooperative Vehicle Intersection Control (CVIC) system that enables cooperation between vehicles and infrastructure for effective intersection operations and management when all vehicles are fully automated. Assuming such a CVIC environment, this paper proposed a CVIC algorithm that does not require a traffic signal. The CVIC algorithm was designed to manipulate individual vehicles' maneuvers so that vehicles can safely cross the intersection without colliding with other vehicles. By eliminating the potential overlaps of vehicular trajectories coming from all conflicting approaches at the intersection, the CVIC algorithm seeks a safe maneuver for every vehicle approaching the intersection and manipulates each of them. An additional algorithm was designed to deal with the system failure cases resulting from inevitable trajectory overlaps at the intersection and infeasible solutions. A simulation-based case study implemented on a hypothetical four-way single-lane approach intersection under varying congestion conditions showed that the CVIC algorithm significantly improved intersection performance compared with conventional actuated intersection control: 99% and 33% of stop delay and total travel time reductions, respectively, were achieved. In addition, the CVIC algorithm significantly improved air quality and energy savings: 44% reductions of CO2 and 44% savings of fuel consumption.
701 citations
"Automated and Cooperative Vehicle M..." refers background in this paper
...Dresner and Stone [9], Au and Stone [10], de la Fortelle [11], Huang et al. [12] and Zhang et al. [13] proposed the use of reservation schemes....
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TL;DR: The developments and the research trends in coordination with the CAVs that have been reported in the literature to date are summarized and remaining challenges and potential future research directions are discussed.
Abstract: Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have the potential to improve safety by reducing and mitigating traffic accidents. They can also provide opportunities to reduce transportation energy consumption and emissions by improving traffic flow. Vehicle communication with traffic structures and traffic lights can allow individual vehicles to optimize their operation and account for unpredictable changes. This paper summarizes the developments and the research trends in coordination with the CAVs that have been reported in the literature to date. Remaining challenges and potential future research directions are also discussed.
685 citations