Vehicular Networks for Collision Avoidance at Intersections

A substantial fraction of automotive collisions occur at intersections. Statistics collected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that more than 2.8 million intersection-related crashes occur in the United States each year, with such crashes constituting more than 44 percent of all reported crashes 12. In addition, there is a desire to increase throughput at intersections by reducing the delay introduced by stop signs and traffic signals. In the future, when dealing with autonomous vehicles, some form of co-operative driving is also necessary at intersections to address safety and throughput concerns.In this paper, we investigate the use of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications to enable the navigation of traffic intersections, to mitigate collision risks, and to increase intersection throughput significantly. Specifically, we design a vehicular network protocol that integrates with mobile wireless radio communication standards such as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) and Wireless Access in a Vehicular Environment (WAVE). This protocol relies primarily on using V2V communications, GPS and other automotive sensors to safely navigate intersections and also to enable autonomous vehicle control. Vehicles use DSRC/WAVE wireless media to periodically broadcast their position information along with the driving intentions as they approach intersections. We used the hybrid simulator called GrooveNet 1, 2 in order to study different driving scenarios at intersections using simulated vehicles interacting with each other. Our simulation results indicate that very reasonable improvements in safe throughput are possible across many practical traffic scenarios.