Driving characteristics and adaptive cruise control

Driving characteristics and adaptive cruise control: A naturalistic driving study

Schakel, W.J. (TU Delft Transport and Planning)
Gorter, C.M. (Royal HaskoningDHV)
de Winter, J.C.F. (TU Delft Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Control)
van Arem, B. (TU Delft Transport and Planning)

Transport and Planning

2017

With the increasing number of vehicles equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), it becomes important to assess its impact on traffic flow efficiency, in particular with respect to capacity and queue discharge rate. Simulation studies and surveys suggest that ACC has both positive and negative effects on traffic flow, but empirical evidence on this topic is scarce. A naturalistic driving study has been conducted with 8 participants who drove their own ACC-equipped vehicle during their regular trips on freeways for a period of 4 to 5 weeks. We measured spacing, headway, speed, acceleration, lane use, and the number of lane changes, and compared these between ACC On and ACC Off in different traffic states, for a total of 48 hours of driving data. Results show that with ACC On, average spacing and headways were larger, whereas standard deviations were smaller. Larger headways can be assumed to reduce capacity, whereas more constant spacing, headway, speed, and acceleration indicate more stable traffic. With ACC On, drivers performed 36% fewer lane changes in saturated traffic, resulting in increased use of either the faster or the slower lane, depending on the driver. Furthermore we found that headways were smaller with ACC On than ACC Off when only selecting accelerations below-0.5m/s2 and above 0.5m/s2, which is the opposite of the overall finding. The latter result suggests that ACC has an important limitation: a lack of anticipation. On the other hand, the smaller headways with ACC On during acceleration indicate an increased queue discharge rate.

Cameras
Cruise control
Discharges (electric)
Intelligent vehicles
Adaptation models
Stability analysis
Traffic control
Navigation

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9dd99a6e-38cc-4598-813a-1925651c6654

https://doi.org/10.1109/MITS.2017.2666582

1939-1390

IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine, 9 (2), 17-24

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2017 W.J. Schakel, C.M. Gorter, J.C.F. de Winter, B. van Arem