Analysis on traffic stability and capacity for mixed traffic flow with platoons of intelligent connected vehicles

• DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2020.124829
• Publication Date: 2020-06-12T06:18:32Z
• Authors: Xin Chang; Haijian Li; Jian Rong; Xiaohua Zhao; An’ran Li
• Keywords: Headway

Abstract With the development of technology, platoons of intelligent and connected vehicles (ICVs) will join regular vehicles on roads, and the characteristics of the traffic flow will change accordingly. In this paper, the traffic flow configurations and the spatial distributions of various types of vehicles are analyzed, when the mixed traffic flow is in equilibrium. To model the mixed traffic flow with platoons of ICVs, the intelligent driver model and the PATH laboratory-calibrated cooperative adaptive cruise control model are introduced for capturing the car-following behavior in this study. Then, analytical methods for the stability and the fundamental diagram models of mixed traffic flow are developed. The results of the sensitivity analysis demonstrated that ICVs can improve the stability of the mixed traffic flow under a critical speed. However, if this critical speed is exceeded, an increase in the number of ICVs may degrade the stability of the mixed traffic flow. Moreover, this critical speed decreases as the maximum platoon size increases. In addition to stability, the results suggest that ICVs can effectively improve traffic capacity. Moreover, the study results demonstrate that a decrease in the desired time headway and an increase in the maximum platoon size are advantageous for the efficiency of the mixed flow.