Cooperative platoon forming strategy for connected autonomous vehicles in mixed traffic flow

Abstract

Connected Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) platoon was recently proposed to improve road utilization and reduce fuel consumption. However, the mixed traffic flow of CAVs and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) will exist on the road for a long time; thus, the organization of CAVs needs to be reconsidered from the aspects of the platoon forming strategy. In this paper, a novel cooperative platoon forming (CPF) strategy is proposed to enhance the formation of CAV platoons in mixed traffic flows. A four-lane cellular automaton traffic modeling framework is constructed to simulate the interaction between CAVs and HDVs. Numerical results show that the CPF strategy is effective in enabling CAVs to be assembled into platoons. The increase in the CAV penetration rate can effectively alleviate traffic congestion and improve traffic capacity, thereby improving traffic flow and fuel economy. The findings may help improve the management of vehicle platoons.