An Experiment and Simulation Study on Developing Algorithms for CAVs to Navigate Through Roadworks

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Formosa N., Quddus M., Singh M. K., Man C. K., Morton C., Masera C. B.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS, vol.25, no.1, pp.120-132, 2024 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

Abstract

Navigating through roadworks represents one of the main sources of safety risk for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) due to the altered road layouts. The built-in base maps do not normally reflect these changes, causing CAVs to experience difficulties in sensing and trajectory generation. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to evaluate different collision-free trajectory generation for CAVs at roadworks to improve safety and traffic performance. Trajectory generation algorithms using lane-level dynamic maps were examined for: 1) CAVs rely on data from in-vehicle sensor only; and 2) CAVs receive additional information via a Smart Traffic Cone (STC) in advance regarding roadwork configurations. Experiments were conducted at a controlled motorway facility operated by National Highways (England) using a vehicle instrumented with a suite of sensors. Schematics of the roadworks scenario were translated into an integrated simulation platform consisting of a traffic microsimulation (VISSIM) to simulate traffic dynamics and a sub-microscopic simulator (PreScan) capable of simulating vehicle autonomy and connectivity. Results indicate that traffic conflicts and delays decrease by 40% and 3% respectively when CAVs receive additional information in advance (i.e., Scenario 2) compared to the other scenario. These findings would assist road network operators in developing 'CAV-enabled roadworks' and vehicle manufacturers in designing a vehicle-based 'roadworks assist' system.