Cellular automata-based modeling and simulation of the mixed traffic flow of vehicle platoon and normal vehicles

The development of autonomous driving technology and communication technology has made it possible for the realization of vehicle platoon. In the future, for a long time, there will be a mixture of platoons and normal vehicles on the road. The platoon will have a greater impact on traffic flow. Therefore, it is necessary to study the characteristics of the traffic mixed by platoons and normal vehicles. In this paper, we propose a traffic flow model for the traffic mixed by platoons and normal vehicles based on cellular automata and analyze the influence of platoon market penetration and platoon size on the road capacity, traffic congestion, and lane change frequency. The paper draws the following main conclusions. Under a given traffic environment, there is an optimal platoon penetration and platoon size that can maximize the capacity. Platoons can effectively alleviate traffic congestion, while the congestion ratio approaches zero when the proportion and size of the platoon reach a certain threshold. When the platoon market penetration is below 40%, the lane change frequency of the platoon gradually increases with the increment of the platoon penetration and size, while the platoon penetration is above 60%, the lane change frequency of the platoon decreases with that. When the platoon size is large enough, the lane change frequency will reduce to zero. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.