Efficiency of Semi-autonomous Platooning Vehicles in High-Capacity Bus Services

Abstract

We analyze the efficiency of semi-autonomous platooning vehicles as an alternative to conventional vehicles in bus and BRT (bus rapid transit) systems. For each service type, optimal bus size, service headway and platoon length are obtained by minimizing total generalized cost, which includes passengers’ and the service provider’s costs. Results show that as the demand level increases, semi-autonomous vehicles can be introduced to enable a better service in both traditional bus and BRT systems. The benefits of semi-autonomous buses become more significant as the capacity upper bound decreases.