Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata

The technology of autonomous vehicles is expected to revolutionize the operation of road transport systems. The penetration rate of autonomous vehicles will be low at the early stage of their deployment. It is a challenge to explore the effects of autonomous vehicles and their penetration on heterog...

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Main Authors: Yangzexi Liu, Jingqiu Guo, John Taplin, Yibing Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-01-01
Series:Journal of Advanced Transportation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8142074
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author Yangzexi Liu
Jingqiu Guo
John Taplin
Yibing Wang
author_facet Yangzexi Liu
Jingqiu Guo
John Taplin
Yibing Wang
author_sort Yangzexi Liu
collection DOAJ
description The technology of autonomous vehicles is expected to revolutionize the operation of road transport systems. The penetration rate of autonomous vehicles will be low at the early stage of their deployment. It is a challenge to explore the effects of autonomous vehicles and their penetration on heterogeneous traffic flow dynamics. This paper aims to investigate this issue. An improved cellular automaton was employed as the modeling platform for our study. In particular, two sets of rules for lane changing were designed to address mild and aggressive lane changing behavior. With extensive simulation studies, we obtained some promising results. First, the introduction of autonomous vehicles to road traffic could considerably improve traffic flow, particularly the road capacity and free-flow speed. And the level of improvement increases with the penetration rate. Second, the lane-changing frequency between neighboring lanes evolves with traffic density along a fundamental-diagram-like curve. Third, the impacts of autonomous vehicles on the collective traffic flow characteristics are mainly related to their smart maneuvers in lane changing and car following, and it seems that the car-following impact is more pronounced.
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institution OA Journals
issn 0197-6729
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publishDate 2017-01-01
publisher Wiley
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spelling doaj-art-1c63b37f534c4f9da202a0684d735a952025-08-20T02:01:45ZengWileyJournal of Advanced Transportation0197-67292042-31952017-01-01201710.1155/2017/81420748142074Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular AutomataYangzexi Liu0Jingqiu Guo1John Taplin2Yibing Wang3Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaTransportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaBusiness School, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, AustraliaCollege of Civil Engineering & Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaThe technology of autonomous vehicles is expected to revolutionize the operation of road transport systems. The penetration rate of autonomous vehicles will be low at the early stage of their deployment. It is a challenge to explore the effects of autonomous vehicles and their penetration on heterogeneous traffic flow dynamics. This paper aims to investigate this issue. An improved cellular automaton was employed as the modeling platform for our study. In particular, two sets of rules for lane changing were designed to address mild and aggressive lane changing behavior. With extensive simulation studies, we obtained some promising results. First, the introduction of autonomous vehicles to road traffic could considerably improve traffic flow, particularly the road capacity and free-flow speed. And the level of improvement increases with the penetration rate. Second, the lane-changing frequency between neighboring lanes evolves with traffic density along a fundamental-diagram-like curve. Third, the impacts of autonomous vehicles on the collective traffic flow characteristics are mainly related to their smart maneuvers in lane changing and car following, and it seems that the car-following impact is more pronounced.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8142074
spellingShingle Yangzexi Liu
Jingqiu Guo
John Taplin
Yibing Wang
Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata
Journal of Advanced Transportation
title Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata
title_full Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata
title_fullStr Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata
title_full_unstemmed Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata
title_short Characteristic Analysis of Mixed Traffic Flow of Regular and Autonomous Vehicles Using Cellular Automata
title_sort characteristic analysis of mixed traffic flow of regular and autonomous vehicles using cellular automata
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8142074
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AT jingqiuguo characteristicanalysisofmixedtrafficflowofregularandautonomousvehiclesusingcellularautomata
AT johntaplin characteristicanalysisofmixedtrafficflowofregularandautonomousvehiclesusingcellularautomata
AT yibingwang characteristicanalysisofmixedtrafficflowofregularandautonomousvehiclesusingcellularautomata