Connected and Automated Vehicles

Advancing Research in Transportation and Public Health: A Selection of Twenty Project Ideas from a US Research Roadmap

Dannenberg, AL
Rodriguez, Daniel
Sandt, LS
2021
Transportation policies and projects have multiple impacts on health. Research on these impacts can help promote positive and reduce adverse health consequences of decisions made by transportation agencies. In 2019 the U.S. National Cooperative Highway Research Program published a research roadmap for transportation and public health based on an extensive literature search and key informant interviews. The roadmap identified 44 research gaps and 122 research needs on a wide range of relevant topics. From this list, using pre-established criteria including specificity, equity, potential impact...

Parking of Connected Automated Vehicles: Vehicle Control, Parking Assignment, and Multi-agent Simulation

Shen, Xu
Choi, Yongkeun
Wong, Alex
Borrelli, Francesco
Moura, Scott
Woo, Soomin
2024

This paper introduces a novel approach to optimize the parking efficiency for fleets of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs). We present a novel multi-vehicle parking simulator, equipped with hierarchical path planning and collision avoidance capabilities for individual CAVs. The simulator is designed to capture the key decision-making processes in parking, from low-level vehicle control to high-level parking assignment, and it enables the effective assessment of parking strategies for large fleets of ground vehicles. We formulate and compare different strategic parking spot assignments...

Optimal Eco-Driving Control of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Through Signalized Intersections

Sun, Chao
Guanetti, Jacopo
Borrelli, Francesco
Moura, Scott
2020

This article focuses on the speed planning problem for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) communicating to traffic lights. The uncertainty of traffic signal timing for signalized intersections on the road is considered. The eco-driving problem is formulated as a data-driven chance-constrained robust optimization problem. Effective red-light duration (ERD) is defined as a random variable, and describes the feasible passing time through the signalized intersections. Usually, the true probability distribution for ERD is unknown. Consequently, a data-driven approach is adopted to...

Joint Fleet Sizing and Charging System Planning for Autonomous Electric Vehicles

Zhang, Hongcai
Sheppard, Colin J. R.
Lipman, Timothy E.
Moura, Scott
2020

This paper studies the joint fleet sizing and charging system planning problem for a company operating a fleet of autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) for passenger and goods transportation. Most of the relevant published papers focus on intracity scenarios and adopt heuristic approaches, e.g., agent based simulation, which do not guarantee optimality. In contrast, we propose a mixed integer linear programming model for intercity scenarios. This model incorporates comprehensive considerations of 1) limited AEV driving range; 2) optimal AEV routing and relocating operations; 3) time-varying...

Charging Infrastructure Demands of Shared-Use Autonomous Electric Vehicles in Urban Areas

Zhang, Hongcai
Sheppard, Colin J. R.
Lipman, Timothy E.
Zeng, Teng
Moura, Scott
2020

Ride-hailing is a clear initial market for autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) because it features high vehicle utilization levels and strong incentive to cut down labor costs. An extensive and reliable network of recharging infrastructure is the prerequisite to launch a lucrative AEV ride-hailing fleet. Hence, it is necessary to estimate the charging infrastructure demands for an AEV fleet in advance. This study proposes a charging system planning framework for a shared-use AEV fleet providing ride-hailing services in urban area. We first adopt an agent-based simulation model, called BEAM...

Cooperation-Aware Lane Change Maneuver in Dense Traffic based on Model Predictive Control with Recurrent Neural Network

Bae, Sangjae
Saxena, Dhruv
Nakhaei, Alireza
Choi, Chiho
Fujimura, Kikuo
Moura, Scott
2020

This paper presents a real-time lane change control framework of autonomous driving in dense Traffic, which exploits cooperative behaviors of other drivers. This paper focuses on heavy Traffic where vehicles cannot change lanes without cooperating with other drivers. In this case, classical robust controls may not apply since there is no "safe" area to merge to without interacting with the other drivers. That said, modeling complex and interactive human behaviors is highly non-trivial from the perspective of control engineers. We propose a mathematical control framework based on Model...

A System for Displaying Travel Times on Changeable Message Signs

Chen, Chao
Alexander Skabardonis
Varaiya, Pravin
2003

We present a system that displays travel time predictions in real time on changeable message signs (CMS) in California. Using loop detector data, this system calculates predicted travel times on designated routes every five minutes. An automated process displays the current travel time predictions on the appropriate CMS’s. We demonstrate the benefits of real time travel time prediction. Historical analysis show that route decision based on CMS almost always identifies the quickest route when alternates are available. Regardless of whether alternate routes exist, prediction reduces travel time...

Potential Freeway Capacity Effects of Advanced Vehicle Control Systems

Shladover, Steven
1991

This paper explains the potential for Advanced Vehicle Control Systems to offer significant improvements in capacity and safety and how this potential has been estimated. It then illustrates with some sample estimates of the lane capacity that could be achieved by operating vehicles in fully automated platoons.

Issues in Communication Standardization for Advanced Vehicle Control Systems

Shladover, Steven
1991

Several issues must be addressed when establishing intelligent vehicle-highway system (IVHS) communication standards, particularly for the most advanced of these systems, the advanced vehicle control system (AVCS). Each of the three stages of AVCS evolution have separate issues that must be addressed in order to define communication standards. It is recommended that measured progress toward the development of IVHS communication standards be based on a solid foundation so that they do not risk becoming impediments to progress. Given the current state of development of IVHS technology, more...

Estimation of Arterial Measures of Effectiveness with Connected Vehicle Data

Argote, Juan
Christofa, Eleni
Xuan, Yiguang
Alexander Skabardonis
Transportation Research Board
2012

The Connected Vehicle technology is a promising mobile data source for improving real-time traffic conditions monitoring and control. This paper presents estimation methods for a variety of measures of effectiveness both at the arterial and intersection level (e.g., average speed, acceleration noise, queue length). These performance measures are essential for determining traffic conditions and improving signal control strategies in real-time. The estimation methods are tested with two datasets comprising of various traffic conditions: undersaturated and oversaturated and the minimum...