Microscopic Simulation Analysis for Automated Highway System Merging Process

Abstract

The automated highway system (AHS) concept with dedicated lanes is not designed as a stand-alone transportation facility. Drivers will by necessity need to drive from their origins to the AHS entrance and from the AHS exit to their final destinations. Therefore, the AHS will affect other transportation facilities and will need to be integrated with all other facilities in the transportation system. Interfaces create much of the congestion for today’s transportation systems. AHS interfaces may cause similar problems, as a result of either AHS interactions with conventional systems or internal limitations from AHS merging capabilities. If these problems exist, either the AHS or the conventional road network cannot function properly. Then the system as a whole will break down, and the AHS could prove a detriment to the overall transportation system. Clearly not enough is known about the automated merging process to determine what conditions would lead to congestion at interface points. Current macroscopic techniques assume parameters that are not applicable to an AHS, and no detailed AHS merging models have been developed and validated. The AHS to conventional roadway interface problem is addressed by presenting a microscopic simulation model for one scenario of the automated merging maneuver. Some numerical results are presented for this merging scenario.