Handling Cut-In Vehicles in Strings of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Vehicles. Issue 2 (3rd March 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Milanés, Vicente; Shladover, Steven E.
• Is Part Of: Journal of intelligent transportation systems. Volume 20:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 178
• Page End: 191
• Publication Date: 2016-03-03
• Subjects: Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) -- Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) -- Cooperative Vehicles -- Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) -- Intelligent Vehicles; Intelligent transportation systems -- Periodicals; Transportation -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; 388.312
• DOI: 10.1080/15472450.2015.1016023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1547-2450

Abstract

Abstract : Cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) systems are a candidate to improve highway capacity by shortening headways and attenuating traffic disturbances. Although encouraging results have been obtained until now, a wide range of traffic circumstances has to be investigated in order to get reliable CACC systems driving on real roads. Among them, handling both vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications-equipped and unequipped vehicles merging into the string of CACC vehicles is a commonly mentioned challenge. In this article, an algorithm for managing the transitions in response to cut-ins from V2V- or non-V2V-equipped vehicles is developed and tested using a string of four CACC vehicles. A CACC controller is implemented in four production Infiniti M56s vehicles and tested in real traffic, where non-V2V-equipped vehicles can cut in. The effects of a vehicle performing a cut-out are also investigated. Then responses to cut-ins by equipped and nonequipped vehicles are simulated for longer strings of vehicles using car-following models for both the production adaptive cruise control (ACC) system and the newly developed CACC controller. Results demonstrate that the CACC system is able to handle cut-in vehicles without causing major perturbations, while also reducing significantly the impact of this maneuver on the following vehicles, improving traffic flow.