The Impact of Spatial Distribution of Heterogeneous Vehicles on Performance of Mixed Platoon: A Cyber-Physical Perspective

Abstract

This paper explores a method to improve the performance of mixed platoon when the penetration rate of automated vehicles (AVs) is low. The mixed traffic, composing of conventional vehicles and AVs, on the one hand, there is heterogeneity between conventional vehicles and AVs, on the other hand, conventional vehicles also show heterogeneity because of different drivers. Therefore, the cyber-physical relationship between vehicles is more complicated. To this end, we firstly analyze the car-following process of vehicles from the cyber-physical perspective and give the model of mixed traffic system. Then we present the descriptive method of driver heterogeneity of conventional vehicles and give the relevant evaluation indices for evaluating the performance of mixed platoon. Finally, we explore the impact of the spatial distribmution of vehicles on performance of mixed platoon in three cases, and the driver heterogeneity of conventional vehicles is also considered. What’s more, in each case, we give three spatial distribution modes and analyze the differences of mixed platoon between the three modes from multiple perspectives. The results show that when the penetration rate of AV is low in the mixed traffic, even considering driver heterogeneity, the performance of the mixed platoon can be improved by arranging regularly the spatial distribution between AVs and conventional vehicles.