Interaction protocols for cooperative merging and lane reduction scenarios

This paper presents the interaction protocols developed for execution of two common scenarios in daily traffic using cooperative automated vehicles. The first proposed scenario addresses merging of a (semi-)automated car on a... [ view full abstract ]

This paper presents the interaction protocols developed
for execution of two common scenarios in daily traffic
using cooperative automated vehicles. The first proposed scenario
addresses merging of a (semi-)automated car on a highway within
a platoon of (semi-)automated vehicles. The second scenario is an
extension of the first scenario with a focus on a lane reduction
where a platoon of automated vehicles merges into a second
one on a different lane. The proposed interaction protocols are
characterized by a sequence of maneuvers to execute the scenarios
together with the corresponding communication message sets.
Moreover, the vehicle control system should be equipped to
implement these protocols. Therefore, the design strategy should
address the interaction protocol as well as the control system
design. The most important feature of the proposed design
strategy is to decompose the scenarios into a sequence of basic
maneuvers. This method provides a generic solution which can
be implemented to other scenarios, too. Also, the thought behind
the design approach is to follow the pattern that human drivers
interact in similar daily traffic occasions as well as to ensure a
distributed decision making mechanism where no fixed supervisor
is required. In both scenarios, the platoon controllers are active
to achieve the common control objective of platooning. However,
for realization of the proposed scenarios, additional controllers
are needed to perform the scenario-specific tasks.