Decentralized V2X Priority Maneuver Coordination: Evaluation in Small Scale Scenarios

Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication can enable the automated vehicles to perform complex cooperative maneuvers with the exchange of Maneuver Coordination Messages (MCMs). A specific protocol is required with a number of strict rules and conditions for safe and efficient cooperative driving. Such a decentralized and explicit Priority Maneuver (PriMa) coordination protocol is presented in this paper. To study the applicability of the protocol, two highway use cases for traffic safety and efficiency are simulated with consecutive cooperative maneuvers. The emphasis is placed on the priority maneuvers and flexibility of the protocol to employ different communication patterns. The use of the priorities aims to prioritize safety-critical maneuvers, minimize the cooperation cost and maximize the coordination efficiency. Depending on the number of coordinating vehicles, the communication patterns ensure safe and efficient negotiation process. The overall coordination and its impact on the traffic are evaluated based on several metrics that also include the unreliable communication. A discussion and comparison with other approaches is given too. PriMa aims to enable fast, safe, comfortable and efficient maneuver coordination.