Enabling Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation for Cooperative Automated Vehicle Applications in Transportation Systems: The Pillar Diagram

The objective of this research was to develop information on how analysis, modeling, and simulation (AMS) tools can be enabled to evaluate cooperative automated vehicle (CAV) applications, allowing transportation professionals using AMS to assess the safety, mobility, environmental, and energy benefits of CAVs. This effort aims to assist transportation agencies in developing information on the safe deployment and operation of these vehicles and to make informed decisions for infrastructure investments. The talk provides recommendations on how existing AMS tools can be complemented to better conduct CAV evaluation in a generalized modeling framework. We provide recommendations on the use of the proposed framework, including the pillar diagram, to facilitate the brainstorming process involved in using and complementing existing AMS tools to better conduct CAV evaluation. Using this framework, users can evaluate which AMS tools to use and how to augment them with programming and scripting when needed. Finally, the talk provides an example of a signalized arterial implementation to demonstrate how to bridge the gap between the current capabilities of AMS tools and desired capabilities for proper CAV evaluation from the perspective of transportation professionals and analysts.