A Research and Educational Robotic Testbed for Real-time Control of Emerging Mobility Systems: From Theory to Scaled Experiments

Abstract

Emerging mobility systems, e.g., connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), shared mobility, mark a paradigm shift in which a myriad of opportunities exist for users to better monitor the transportation network conditions and make optimal operating decisions to improve safety and reduce pollution, energy consumption, and travel delays [1]. Emerging mobility systems are typical cyber-physical systems where the cyber component (e.g., data and shared information through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication) can aim at optimally controlling the physical entities (e.g., CAVs, non-CAVs). The cyber-physical nature of such systems is associated with significant control challenges and gives rise to a new level of complexity in modeling and control [2]. As we move to increasingly complex emerging mobility systems, new control approaches are needed to optimize the impact on system behavior [3] of the interplay between vehicles at different traffic scenarios [4]. It is expected that CAVs will gradually penetrate the market and interact with human-driven vehicles in ways that will improve safety and transportation efficiency over the next several years. However, different levels of vehicle automation in the transportation network can significantly alter transportation efficiency metrics [5] ranging from 45% improvement to 60% deterioration. Moreover, we anticipate that efficient transportation and travel cost reduction might alter human travel behavior causing rebound effects, e.g., by improving efficiency, travel cost is decreased, hence willingness-to-travel is increased. The latter would increase overall vehicle miles traveled, which in turn might negate the benefits in terms of energy and travel time.Several studies have shown the benefits of CAVs to reduce energy and alleviate traffic congestion in specific transportation scenarios [6]-[8]. There have been two major approaches to utilizing connectivity and automation of vehicles, namely, platooning and traffic smoothing. A platoon is defined as a group of closely-coupled vehicles traveling to reduce their aerodynamic drag, especially at high cruising speeds. The concept of platoon formation is a popular systemlevel approach to address traffic congestion, which gained momentum in the 1980s and 1990s