Cooperative Platooning in Mixed Traffic of Connected, Automated, and Human-Driven Vehicles

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Abstract: It is exciting that connected and automated vehicles are coming to us. While it has great potential, full benefits can only be realized with 100% connected automated vehicles. Thus, it is important to realize as much benefit as possible during the transition period (i.e., mixed traffic of connected, automated, and human-driven vehicles. This talk will present the development of cooperative platooning algorithms for mixed traffic of connected automated vehicles and conventional human-driven vehicles. The recent development of connected and automated vehicle technology allows a group of such vehicles to travel closely one after another in a safe manner (known as, cooperative platooning), which greatly improves mobility and energy efficiency. However, when a human-driven vehicle exists within the group, the cohesion of the vehicle platoon is not possible, due to uncertain human driver behavior. The proposed algorithms enable connected and automated vehicles to safely follow human-driven vehicles at shorter headways while mitigated traffic disturbances. These algorithms will also be able to assist a human driver in the connected-but-not-automated vehicle by complementing human’s imperfect behaviors. As such, the cooperative platooning can be efficiently operated at low market penetration of connected automated vehicles. This talk will also discuss challenges in identifying preceding vehicles to form cooperative planning.

Biography: Dr. Brian Park is a Professor in the Engineering Systems and Environment Department and a member of Link Lab at the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the University of Virginia, he was a Research Fellow at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences and a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at North Carolina State University. Dr. Park is a recipient of the 2014 George N. Saridis Best Transactions Paper Award for Outstanding Research from the IEEE ITS Society, the PTV America Best Abstract Award, Outstanding Reviewer Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, Jack H. Dillard Outstanding Paper Award from the Virginia Transportation Research Council and Charley V. Wootan Award (for best Ph.D. dissertation) from the Council of University Transportation Centers. He is an ASCE ExCEEd teaching fellow. He is an Associate Editor of the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Transportation Engineering and the KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, and an editorial board member of the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation. Furthermore, he is a member of the TRB (a division of the National Academies) Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Computing Applications committee.