Uncategorized – Georgia Transportation Institute

18-23

Title and Subtitle:

Development of Tools to Model Driver Behavior in a Cooperative and Driverless Vehicle Mixed Roadway Environment

Lead PI:

Michael Hunter

Lead Affiliate:

Georgia Institute of Technology

Co Pi:

Angshuman Guin (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract:

Promising advances in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology have fueled industry and research fields to dedicate significant efforts to the study of the integration of AVs into the traffic network. While most studies anticipate a beneficial role of AVs, contributing to improved traffic efficiency and roadway safety, the underlying assumptions on the interactions between AVs and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) are often cooperative in nature. The first portion of this study investigates the impact of aggressive human-driven vehicles’ (AHDVs) merging behaviors on traffic performance in a mixed environment that includes three vehicle types: AVs, HDVs, and AHDVs. This study is undertaken in an open-source microscopic traffic simulation model, Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO). AHDVs have been modeled in this study to show aggressive merging behaviors at a merge section of a freeway exit ramp by targeting the farthest reachable AV for lane change as well as forcing a merge immediately in front of the AV. Results show that the travel-time gains achieved by AHDVs were at the expense of AVs and HDVs, and the interaction of aggressive HDVs with cooperative AVs could negatively impact overall capacity. The second portion of this study developed an Excel-based tool exploring the impact of AVs on departure capacity from a signalized intersection. Through both portions of this study, it was seen that critical indicators of the impact of AVs on traffic performance are: (1) Is a rise in aggressive interactions witnessed? (2) What are the headways being adopted by AVs? And (3) What are the spacing and maximum-length platooning characteristics?

NTL Report:

GDOT RP 18-23

MANAGING TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM HEALTH: SETTING PERFORMANCE TARGETS AND POLICIES IN NON-UNIFORM REGIONS AND JURISDICTIONS TO ACHIEVE UNIFORM STATEWIDE AND NATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Project Description:

This project will develop a focused body of knowledge and tools, including a data-and-expert-knowledge-driven approach for addressing a multi-scalar issue involved in performance-based planning at multiple levels of decision making: namely, how to achieve broader national and statewide objectives while taking into consideration regional and local priorities and constraints. The project will apply a multi-methodology analysis to evaluate transportation system health metrics for selected jurisdictions and regions in the state of Georgia and selected states to tell a more comprehensive story about the cumulative impacts of investments at the statewide, metropolitan and local jurisdiction levels, as a basis for determining targets using both quantitative data and expert knowledge in a manner that considers local and metropolitan priorities while aiming to achieve statewide and national priorities.

Posters:

Conference Presentations:

“Transportation System Health Analysis: A Corridor-Level Study of Georgia’s State Routes” , presented at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting Poster Session in Washington, D.C., January 12-16, 2014.
“A Conceptual Framework for Transportation System Health”, presented at the Second Annual GDOT/GTI Transportation Research Poster Session in Atlanta, Georgia, September 24, 2014.
“Managing Transportation System Health: Setting Performance Targets and Policies in Non-Uniform Jursdictions to Achieve Uniform Statewide and National Objectives”, presented at the University Transportation Center (UTC) Conference for the Southeastern Region in Atlanta, Georgia, March 24-25, 2014.