Control of autonomous vehicles flow using imposed speed profiles

Abstract

The current non-connected autonomous vehicle scheme for speed changing along the road has limitations. Other alternatives require a central control or a complex communication system between the vehicles. We suggest a low cost and simple method for controlling the traffic of a line of autonomous vehicles using predetermined speed profiles imposed upon the vehicles along the road. We introduce a novel method to control autonomous vehicles traffic. Particularly, we investigate cases where specific velocities are required at some points along the road. This is done by comparing different velocity profiles for acceleration, deceleration or a combination of both. As traffic flow and speed limit may change due to upcoming road conditions, it is imperative to control vehicle line traffic, such that phantom jams will be prevented while preserving maximal traffic flow at minimum energy. We provide a comparison of these profiles for acceleration, deceleration, and for the combined case in terms of traffic flow, energy consumption, travel duration and the resulting jam characteristics. Following the comparison, we conclude that the best strategy would be to use linear speed profiles both to accelerate and to decelerate. Lastly, we suggest a tool to compare speed profiles for deceleration cases where the formation of an upstream propagated traffic congestion is inevitable.