Urban Cycling Platoons Syncing Traffic Infrastructure

Although benefits of cycling in traffic congestion and pollution are concrete, in several cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam the adoption of bicycles as means of commuting has overflown the dedicated infrastructure,... [ view full abstract ]

Although benefits of cycling in traffic congestion and pollution are concrete, in several cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam the adoption of bicycles as means of commuting has overflown the dedicated infrastructure, deriving in safety risks and gridlocks due to the lack of explicit coordination among cyclists themselves and with city transit coordination infrastructure. In this paper we present how coordinated platoons of cyclist in urban settings can be extremely useful to maximize the positive impact of synchronized sequence of traffic lights, so called "green waves", that allow cyclists to flow without having to stop at intersections. Our project addresses the coordination of collective behavior of platoons of cyclists that could pervade dedicated express roads such as the London’s 18 mile East- West Cycle Superhighway, as well as bike paths threaded with urban car roads. Aiming to provide safer and comfortable environments that facilitate cyclist circulation in urban settings, technological solutions that integrate vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and human-to-machine interfaces can be developed.  Our case presents a system that explores the use of control mechanisms for providing coordinated driving to a group of bicycles enabled by ad-hoc communications and embedded computing. This allows for the consolidation of unplanned “schools” of cyclists that can be detected by traffic control infrastructure as composited units, prioritizing their flow over motorized vehicles. Our empirical method integrates cycling and a well established platooning algorithm developed for car or truck convoying.  In the proposed system, cyclists respond to a Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control delivered through specific human-machine interfaces designed to elicit positive or negative acceleration from individual cyclists. As a result a school-like behavior emerges from cyclists. The benefit for cyclists riding together with others is to maintain a critical mass large enough to deserve prioritized use of urban roads that otherwise they wouldn’t get by their own. The benefit for car drivers is to stop less frequently at intersections with bike paths. The contribution of the technology reported herein to green waves is twofold: it constantly informs when cyclists are subscribed to a green wave, and triggers the green waves on collective demand. These findings and technologies could be applied in the coordination of a group of two-wheeled vehicle including moped and self-balanced electric vehicles.

This work has been partially funded by Project FONDECYT Iniciación 11140045