Influence of Exclusive Lanes for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles on Freeway Traffic Flow

The intelligence of connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) is insufficient to deal with the complex road conditions. However, the application of exclusive lanes bypasses the long wait for the technology to mature. Prior to the maturity of intelligent transport systems (ITSs), it’s a feasible solution in terms of technology and cost to set up exclusive lanes. In this way, CAVs will form an efficient and energy-saving autonomous fleet. An improved cellular automata model is used to study the effect of setting up exclusive lanes for CAVs on traffic flow throughput and stability on the freeway. A multi-lane freeway, equipped with intelligent sensors and road signs, is set up and three stages are designed according to the development degree of CAVs. This paper introduces two kinds of significant data by simulation: heterogeneous traffic flow and the degradation rate of CAV. They verify that setting up exclusive lanes for CAV will greatly improve the traffic condition of the freeway on the different penetration rates of CAV. Although the establishment of exclusive lanes can only slightly improve the traffic capacity, it can effectively inhibit the degradation of CAV within the range of CAV’s penetration rates from 10% to 80%.