Intersection control has an important role in the management of urban traffic to ensure safety, high traffic flow and to prevent congestion. Recently, a growing body of literature has been reported on the theme of non-signalised intersection control in which traffic lights are replaced with intelligent road side units. Data from several studies suggest that non-signalised control could reduce vehicle delays and fuel consumption significantly whilst ensuring safety. However, there is little published data on the impact of the mixed driving behaviour with human-driven vehicles and autonomous vehicles. This paper investigates the emerging role of connectivity and vehicle autonomy in the context of traffic control under the mixed driving behaviour scenario. The concepts of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications and multi-agent systems are central to achieving a robust and reliable traffic-light-free intersection control. Comprehensive computer simulation results on a four-way intersection indicate over 96% reduced average vehicle delay and 37% less fuel consumption with the non-signalised control solution compared to the traffic light control. The outcome of this study offers some important insights into enabling cooperation between vehicles and traffic infrastructure via V2I communications, in order to make more efficient real-time decisions about traffic conditions, whilst ensuring a higher degree of safety.
Budan, GokhanHayatleh, KhaledMorrey, DeniseBall, PeterShadbolt, Philip
Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment\School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics
Year of publication: 2018Date of RADAR deposit: 2018-03-16