Development of a cyber-physical-system perspective based simulation platform for optimizing connected automated vehicles dedicated lanes

Recently, many studies have shown that during the transition period of the coexistence of autonomous vehicles (AVs)/connected automated vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles (HDVs), a dedicated lane (DL) for AVs/CAVs can improve traffic throughput and lower collision risk, which has become a hot topic in the field of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). This study presents an integrated simulation platform for DL optimization from cyber-physical-system (CPS) perspective. The developed simulation platform can be used to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the design parameters, operation modes, contingency plan, etc. of DL in a “What You See Is What You Get (Wysiwyg)” style. First, we introduce the architecture and features of the proposed platform, which comprises of SUMO, OMNeT++, and Unity3D. We implemented all experimental scripts for DL optimization in SUMO, including the configuration of the DLs, car-following models, lane-changing models, vehicle departure models, origin–destination demands, and 2D visualization of traffic flow simulation. We used OMNeT++ for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. Unity3D is a 3D visualization platform for simulations synchronized with SUMO. Connected with the driving simulator and paired with a virtual reality (VR) helmet, Unity3D can offer a high-fidelity immersive environment for all types of users. We developed a specific communication protocol to achieve data sharing and synchronization of all components of the proposed simulation platform. Second, this paper depicts the functions of the proposed simulation platform in detail, including the modeling of road networks, vehicles, traffic flow, optimal design, and evaluation indicators of DL. Finally, by using the developed simulation platform, we demonstrated and analyzed three cases: (1) without DL vs with DL, (2) inner lane vs outer lane, and (3) without V2I vs with V2I. The experimental results confirm the feasibility of the developed simulation platform, and yield some interesting findings, such as (1) market penetration rates (MPRs) are an important factor in deciding whether to deploy DLs, (2) the number of lane changes when the vehicle enters/leaves the designated lane is the key criterion for determining the placement of the DLs, and (3) the cooperative vehicle-infrastructure system can offer AVs/CAVs with better over-the-horizon perception capabilities, helping to improve the smoothness of traffic flow in the case of abnormal events. The developed simulation platform is expected to offer a new tool for optimal design and evaluation of DLs for AVs/CAvs.