Mobility and Energy Consumption Impacts of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Vehicle Strings on Freeway Corridors

Abstract

Cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) vehicle string operations have the potential to improve significantly the mobility and energy consumption performance of congested freeway corridors. This study examines the impact of CACC string operations on vehicle speed and fuel economy on the 13-mi SR-99 corridor, near Sacramento, CA. It extends the existing body of knowledge by performing a multi-scenario simulation analysis of the freeway corridor. A simulation study evaluated the performance of the corridor under various CACC market penetration scenarios and traffic demand inputs. The CACC string operation was also analyzed when vehicle awareness device (VAD) and CACC managed lane (ML) strategies were implemented. The case study revealed that the average vehicle speed increased by 70% when the CACC market penetration increased from 0% to 100%. The highest average fuel economy, expressed in miles per gallon (mpg), was achieved under the 50% CACC scenario where mpg was 27. This was 10% higher than the baseline scenario. However, when the CACC market penetration was 50% or higher, the vehicle fuel efficiency only had minor increases. When CACC market penetration reached 100%, the corridor allowed 30% more traffic to enter the network without experiencing reduced average speed. Results also indicate that the VAD strategy increased the speed by 8% when the CACC market penetration was 20% or 40%, while there was a minor decrease in mpg. The ML strategy decreased the corridor performance when implemented alone.