Connected Vehicle Enabled Freeway Merge Assistance system-field test: Preliminary results of driver compliance to advisory

The Connected Vehicle enabled Freeway Merge Assistance system is developed by the University of Virginia Center for Transportation Studies, with the aim of reducing conflicts between merging vehicles in freeway ramp area. Initial simulation evaluation results showed that the merge assistance system has significant potential to increase capacity of freeway merge areas and reduce accidents by minimizing the number of conflicts between vehicles. As a next step of evaluation, a field test is conducted at a Connected Vehicle test bed to investigate drivers' response to the personalized advisories relayed by this system. This paper provides an overview of the field test methodology, system architecture, stated preference survey and presents preliminary results for this prototype freeway merge assistance system developed for the Connected Vehicle Environment. The revealed and stated preference data gathered will be used to develop an advisory response model that will incorporate drivers' response variability in the simulation evaluation framework of the freeway merge assistance system.