Design, Preparation, and Execution of the 100-AV Field Test for the CIRCLES Consortium: Methodology and Implementation of the Largest Mobile Traffic Control Experiment to Date

This article presents the comprehensive design, setup, execution, and evaluation of the MegaVanderTest (MVT) experiment conducted by the Congestion Impacts Reduction via CAV-in-the-Loop Lagrangian Energy Smoothing (CIRCLES) Consortium, which aimed to mitigate traffic congestion using partially autonomous vehicles (AVs) (see “Summary”). The experiment involved 100 vehicles on Nashville’s Interstate 24 (I-24) highway, utilizing various control algorithms to smooth stop-and-go traffic waves. The execution of the MVT experiment required a coordinated effort from multiple teams. This article details the meticulous planning process, the coordinated efforts of multiple teams, and the innovative use of a dynamic agent-based simulation framework for traffic evaluation. The contributions of this work include demonstrating and providing a detailed roadmap for large-scale live traffic experiments, illustrating the lessons learned from the MVT experiment, and introducing the other articles in this issue and their complementary relationship in the MVT experiment.