V2X-Enabled Platoon Control for Aperiodic Congestion Mitigation via Moving Bottlenecks in Mixed Traffic Environments

Abstract

This paper presents a platoon-driven cooperative control framework aimed at mitigating aperiodic congestion in mixed traffic environment. The study introduces a dynamic platoon-embedded cell transmission model (CTM), ensuring the kinematic continuity of connected and automated vehicle (CAV) platoons across cell boundaries, while maintaining the fundamental principles of traffic conservation. A novel congestion quantification mechanism is proposed to translate bottleneck dynamics into measurable queue lengths, laying the groundwork for precise speed calculation. Building upon this framework, we propose a continuous moving bottleneck control strategy that regulates traffic flow by dynamically adjusting platoon speeds. This approach clearly defines the interaction between CAV platoons and surrounding traffic, enabling proactive congestion mitigation through traffic flow adjustments. Extensive simulations are conducted on the Antwerp R1 highway corridor using real-world traffic demand profiles and CAV platoon arrivals modeled by a modified Weibull distribution. Additionally, we explores the sensitivity to periodic congestion locations and communication delays. The results demonstrate significant improvements in total time spent (TTS) and delay across both single-platoon and multi-platoon scenarios. At 60% CAV penetration, the median TTS decreases by 41.3% compared to baseline conditions, with performance comparable to that of 80% penetration although with worse stability. Notably, controlled platoon deceleration, despite temporarily increasing local density, effectively suppresses congestion spillback, thereby improving overall throughput. These findings confirm that coordinated platoon control outperforms unregulated strategies by strategically balancing local speed reductions with global flow optimization, especially when CAV penetration exceeds 40%.

Topics & Concepts