Simulation Platform for Testing and Evaluation of CAV Trajectory Optimization and Signal Control Algorithm Integrated with Commercial Traffic Simulator

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and their applications have the potential to increase the safety and efficiency of highway networks. Therefore, it is essential to test and evaluate how CAVs affect traffic operations before they are widely deployed. However, there are limitations in testing these systems in the real world due to the limited number of CAVs and safety concerns. This paper develops a simulation platform to allow testing of CAV. The platform is used to test a previously developed algorithm that optimizes signal operations by exploiting CAV capabilities. The simulation platform leverages its performance evaluation capabilities to VISSIM. Simultaneously, the external algorithm jointly optimizes signal control and CAV trajectories. The paper demonstrates how the simulation platform can integrate other CAV applications to VISSIM, allowing for comparison of different trajectory and/or signal control optimization algorithms.