Position Uncertainty-Tolerant Cooperative Merging Application for Mixed Multilane Traffic

Abstract

To date, numerous cooperative merging techniques have been developed, with multiple studies demonstrating their potential to improve traffic safety, efficiency, and environmental impact at merging points. However, many of these techniques make assumptions that will almost certainly be questionable in the real world, namely: 1) relative positioning between vehicles will be sufficiently accurate at all times; 2) the merging application-equipped vehicles will not change lanes before reaching the merge point, nor will other vehicles change lanes into their lane; and 3) vehicles with merging-assist technology will not mix with vehicles without the technology. This paper proposes a cooperative merging application which is capable of functioning even when the vehicle's positioning accuracy is severely degraded and all vehicles are free to change lanes into and out of the merging traffic streams. Furthermore, our strategy demonstrates safety, efficiency, and environmental benefits for the overall traffic stream even with technology penetration rates as low as 20%.