The impact of centralized cooperative intersection control on traffic flow characteristics

With the development of V2V and V2I technologies, vehicles can cooperate to perform more efficiently and safely in the intelligent transportation systems. Centralized cooperative intersection control (CCIC) uses V2X communication technology to guide automated vehicles passing the intersection more efficiently, sustainably, safely and comfortably. This paper focuses on the impact of CCIC on traffic flow characteristics. It uses VISSIM to study the impacts of intelligent vehicles equipped with On-Board Unit (OBU) for CCIC on traffic flow. The temporal-spatial trajectory diagrams show a significant improvement of traffic flow efficiency compared with the actuated intersection control (AIC) system. Moreover, CCIC can also reduce the emission and enhance the driver comfort level. In addition, the impacts of the penetration rate of OBU for CCIC are emphasized and investigated. The results show that vehicles with penetration rate of OBU for CCIC larger than about 60% shows promising potential in the intersection control systems than AIC.