The Impact of Truck Platoons on the Traffic Dynamics Around Off-Ramp Regions

Can Zhao,Keqiang Li,Jingwei Li,Li Li,Zhiheng Li

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3072070

Can Zhao, Keqiang Li + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3072070

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Abstract

The platooning technique has shown potential to bring pronounced benefits to road traffic, including higher safety, better fuel economy, and greater comfort. However, an overlong platoon may jeopardize the overall traffic efficiency because of the unintentional obstruction to other traffic participants. Hence, this paper proposes an advance adjustment strategy for the truck platoon in the off-ramp scenarios to reduce the impact on the predictable lane changes of other vehicles. We derive the appropriate platoon length with an analytic method and verify the effectiveness of conclusions via simulations. Both theoretical calculation and simulation experiment results prove that controlling the platoon length within a reasonable range can significantly improve traffic efficiency near a ramp. This study highlights the importance of truck platoon length management on traffic dynamics and provides a valuable reference for future researchers.

Highlights

Platoon refers to autonomous vehicles travel compactly and steadily with a short inter-vehicle distance
Based on a theoretical calculation, this paper proposes an advance adjustment strategy for the truck platoon in the off-ramp scenarios to reduce the impact on the predictable mandatory lane change (MLC) behaviors of other vehicles
This study highlights the importance of truck platoon length management on traffic dynamics and provides a valuable reference for future researchers

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Platoon refers to autonomous vehicles travel compactly and steadily with a short inter-vehicle distance. Sets of simulation experiments are conducted under varied parameters to investigate the effect of different queue lengths on macroscopic traffic flow Both theoretical calculation and simulation experiment results prove that controlling the length of the platoon within a reasonable range can significantly improve traffic efficiency near a ramp. In the experiment, both vehicles and trucks are generated with random probability at the starting point of the scenario, and their arrival rate are labeled as qveh and qtruck. Both vehicles and trucks are generated with random probability at the starting point of the scenario, and their arrival rate are labeled as qveh and qtruck In real traffic, those values can be accurately measured by the infrastructures like virtual loop installed on the side of the road [37]–[40]. 4) Due to the existence of V2V and virtual loop, the autonomous trucks have the ability to obtain traffic information within the perception range, including the arrival rate locations, speeds, etc., which is the basis for the following calculations

CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO AVOID CONGESTION

FOLLOWING MODEL OF TRUCKS

SIMULATION EXPERIMENT SETTINGS

NUMERICAL TESTING RESULTS

CONCLUSION