Platooning Graph for Safer Traffic Management

Abstract

Each year, millions of people either die or get injured due to road incidents. Thus, integrating safety optimization techniques into future traffic systems is of utmost importance. Emerging connected vehicle technologies have enabled ways to manage traffic networks with optimization goals such as travel time efficiency, fuel efficiency. However, these existing studies have focused less on maximizing traffic safety. Increasing space between vehicles in the road network with an acceptable travel time increase will help to improve the safety of the system. We propose the Platooning Graph, which is capable of modelling the inter-vehicular spacing optimization problem and we provide a fast and readily deployable algorithm to find a good approximate solution. Using microscopic traffic simulations, we demonstrate how the proposed method can improve safety, with minimal impact on travel time.