A proof-of-concept field experiment on cooperative lane change maneuvers using a prototype connected automated vehicle testing platform

Connected automation systems coordinate vehicle communications and automated vehicle control to improve transportation system mobility, safety, and sustainability. Real-world deployment of connected automated vehicle (CAV) applications and related traffic management technologies will require automation of all vehicle and traffic movements, including platooning, lane change, and merge maneuvers, to fully realize potential system benefits. It is also necessary to test all the essential CAV operations in the field with proof-of-concept experiments to understand and validate the performance of developed applications. This paper describes an effort in developing an innovative prototype vehicle testing platform to successfully conduct a proof-of-concept field experiment of a cooperative lane change maneuver driven by a simple algorithm, executed using automated longitudinal speed control, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, and vehicle-based radar systems. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed testing platform and the successful proof of the cooperative lane change operations. The effort also raises research questions to be addressed in the future. The work can benefit the literature by introducing a feasible vehicle control platform for other researchers’ use to test their research subcomponents of CAVs, such as various control algorithms.