Assessing the impact of a cooperative merging system on highway traffic using a microscopic flow simulatorAssessing the impact of a cooperative merging system on highway traffic using a microscopic flow simulator Πλήρης Δημοσίευση σε Συνέδριο Conference Full Paper 2015-03-302014enVehicle merging on highways has always been an important aspect, which directly affects the capacity of the highway. Under critical traffic conditions, the merging of main road traffic and on-ramp traffic is known to trigger speed breakdown and congestion. Additionally, merging is one of the most stressful tasks for the driver, since it requires a synchronized set of observations and actions. Consequently, drivers often perform merging maneuvers with low efficiency. Emerging vehicle technologies, such as cooperative adaptive cruise control and/or merging-assistance systems, are expected to enable the so-called “cooperative merging”. The purpose of this work is to propose a cooperative merging system and evaluate its performance and its impact on highway capacity. The modeling and simulation of the proposed methodology is performed within the framework of a microscopic traffic simulator. The proposed model allows for the vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, which enables the effective handling of the available gaps between vehicles. Different cases are examined through simulations, in order to assess the impact of the system on traffic flow, under various traffic conditions. Useful conclusions are derived from the simulation results, which can form the basis for more complex merging algorithms and/or strategies that adapt to traffic conditions.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 321132, project TRAMAN21.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/V012T15A024ASME 2014 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and ExpositionASME 2014 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and ExpositionNtousakis_et_al_IMECE_2014.pdfChania [Greece]Library of TUC2015-03-30application/pdf983.4 kBfree Ntousakis Ioannis-Antonios Ντουσακης Ιωαννης-Αντωνιος Porfyri Kalliroi Πορφυρη Καλλιρροη Nikolos Ioannis Νικολος Ιωαννης Papageorgiou Markos Παπαγεωργιου Μαρκος American Society of Mechanical Engineers Microscopic flow simulator