Autonomous Driving in the Framework of Three-Phase Traffic Theory

Abstract

We have revealed physical features of autonomous driving in the framework of the three-phase traffic theory for which there is no fixed time headway to the preceding vehicle. A comparison with the classical model approach to autonomous driving for which an autonomous driving vehicle tries to reach a fixed (desired or "optimal") time headway to the preceding vehicle has been made. It turns out that autonomous driving in the framework of the three-phase traffic theory exhibits the following advantages in comparison with the classical model of autonomous driving: (i) The absence of string instability. (ii) Considerably smaller speed disturbances at road bottlenecks. (iii) Autonomous driving vehicles based on the three-phase theory decrease the probability of traffic breakdown at the bottleneck in mixed traffic flow consisting of human driving and autonomous driving vehicles; on the contrary, even a single autonomous driving vehicle based on the classical approach can provoke traffic breakdown at the bottleneck in mixed traffic flow.

Quantifying long-term rates of texture change on road networks

“…The periodic features observed are systematically well-organised, meaning that the heavy vehicles such as trucks or buses would have to be in phase with each other when driving along the pavement surface, which is what would be expected. Synchronisation of traffic flow is a recognised phenomenon (Kerner 2018) and in phase movement of vehicle suspension in traffic flow could be triggered by an irregularity such as a bump or more likely a construction joint within the road. Indeed,…”