An experiment and simulation study on developing algorithms for CAVs to navigate through roadworks

Navigating through roadworks represents one of the main sources of safety risk for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) due to the altered road layouts. The built-in base maps do not normally reflect these changes, causing CAVs to experience difficulties in sensing and trajectory generation. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to evaluate different collision-free trajectory generation for CAVs at roadworks to improve safety and traffic performance. Trajectory generation algorithms using lane-level dynamic maps were examined for: 1) CAVs rely on data from in-vehicle sensor only; and 2) CAVs receive additional information via a Smart Traffic Cone (STC) in advance regarding roadwork configurations. Experiments were conducted at a controlled motorway facility operated by National Highways (England) using a vehicle instrumented with a suite of sensors. Schematics of the roadworks scenario were translated into an integrated simulation platform consisting of a traffic microsimulation (VISSIM) to simulate traffic dynamics and a sub-microscopic simulator (PreScan) capable of simulating vehicle autonomy and connectivity. Results indicate that traffic conflicts and delays decrease by 40% and 3% respectively when CAVs receive additional information in advance (i.e., Scenario 2) compared to the other scenario. These findings would assist road network operators in developing ‘CAV-enabled roadworks’ and vehicle manufacturers in designing a vehicle-based ‘roadworks assist’ system.