Lane-free artificial-fluid concept for vehicular trafficLane-free artificial-fluid concept for vehicular traffic Peer-Reviewed Journal Publication Δημοσίευση σε Περιοδικό με Κριτές 2021-07-062021enA 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.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme/ ERC Grant Agreement n. [833915], project TrafficFluid.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Proceedings of the IEEE1092114-121Papageorgiou_et_al._Proc. IEEE_109(2)_2021.pdfChania [Greece]Library of TUC2021-07-05application/pdf364.8 kBfree Papageorgiou Markos Παπαγεωργιου Μαρκος Mountakis Kyriakos-Simon Μουντακης Κυριακος-Σιμων Karafyllis Iason Καραφυλλης Ιασων Papamichail Ioannis Παπαμιχαηλ Ιωαννης Wang Yibing Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Automated vehicles Lane-free traffic flow Vehicle nudging Artificial fluid