Enhanced Traffic Management Procedures of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in Transition Areas

Abstract

In light of the increasing trend towards vehicle connectivity and automation, there will be areas and situations on the roads where high automation can be granted, and others where it is not allowed or not possible. These are termed ‘Transition Areas’. Without proper traffic management, such areas may lead to vehicles issuing take-over requests (TORs), which in turn can trigger transitions of control (ToCs), or even minimum-risk manoeuvres (MRMs). In this respect, the TransAID Horizon 2020 project develops and demonstrates traffic management procedures and protocols to enable smooth coexistence of automated, connected, andconventional vehicles, with the goal of avoiding ToCs and MRMs, or at least postponing/accommodating them. Our simulations confirmed that proper traffic management, taking the traffic mix into account, can prevent drops in traffic efficiency, which in turn leads to a more performant, safer, and cleaner traffic system, when taking the capabilities of connected and autonomous vehicles into account.