M. Papageorgiou, K.S. Mountakis, I. Karafyllis, I. Papamichail, and Y. Wang, "Lane-free artificial-fluid concept for vehicular traffic," Proc. IEEE, vol. 109, no. 2, pp. 114-121, Feb. 2021. doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2020.3042681
https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2020.3042681
A novel paradigm for vehicular traffic in the era of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) is proposed, which includes two combined principles: lane-free traffic and vehicle nudging; the latter implying that vehicles may be "pushing" (from a distance, using communication or sensors) other vehicles in front of them. This traffic paradigm features several advantages, including: smoother and safer driving; increase of roadway capacity; and no need for the anisotropy restriction. The proposed concept provides the possibility to actively design (rather than model or describe) the traffic flow characteristics in an optimal way, i.e. to engineer the future CAV traffic flow as an efficient artificial fluid. Options, features, related prior work, application domains and required research topics are discussed. Preliminary simulation results illustrate some basic features of the concept.