Impacts of Automated Truck Platoons on Travel Time and Reliability at Freeway Diverge Areas

This paper assesses the impacts on travel time and travel time reliability associated with the operation of autonomous truck platoons (ATPs) at freeway diverge areas. ATPs are groups of multiple trucks traveling close behind each other employing automation technologies, which allows them to maintain small gaps that would be unsafe and inconvenient for human drivers. ATP technologies are mature, and commercial deployments are expected in the next few years (earlier than autonomous passenger cars). However, there is insufficient information about the impacts that ATPs will generate on the traffic stream, especially around exit lanes. This paper proposes an interdisciplinary framework to integrate ATPs into a microscopic traffic simulator. A combinatorial experiment is performed to test the impact of four experimental variables on travel time and reliability, i.e., (i) traffic volume projections, (ii) ATP penetration rates, (iii) ATP sizes, and (iv) ATP gaps. Two performance metrics are employed and statistically tested to quantify the impact of these variables on (a) though- and (b) divergent-traffic. Numerical results demonstrate the significance and impact of experimental variables on travel time and reliability.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AT045 Standing Committee on Intermodal Freight Transport.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Mesa-Arango, Rodrigo
  • Fabregas, Aldo
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Diverging traffic; Freeways; Intelligent transportation systems; Intelligent vehicles; Microsimulation; Traffic platooning; Travel time; Trucks
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Freight Transportation; Highways; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01630324
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-06470
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 27 2017 9:34AM