Coordinated Start and Automated Vehicle Platoons for Arterial Intersection Improvement to Solve the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem

Road intersections often serve as critical congestion points along urban arterials, leading to a reduction in roadway capacity. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have been employed to enhance traffic flow and mitigate urban congestion, serving as a solution to address the Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs) impacted by various incidents, which can range from severe to non-severe. This study proposes a novel method that leverages platooning within automatic car-following systems for vehicles stationary at red traffic signals. The method enables coordinated acceleration as the signal transitions to green, allowing a greater number of vehicles to pass through the intersection during a single green phase compared to conventional, manually driven vehicles. To evaluate this approach, a new simulator tailored for connected vehicle applications was developed to design and assess the performance of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) platoons. Numerical simulations indicate that the proposed CACC-based strategy significantly enhances traffic mobility and intersection throughput.