APC: Adaptive Platoon Control Scheme for Urban Traffic Signal Intersections

Abstract

Urban traffic systems are becoming increasingly congested, leading to severe exhaust pollution, with intersections acting as bottlenecks in these systems. Fortunately, platoon driving can reduce fuel consumption and emissions on roads while improving intersection throughput. However, due to the complexity of intersections, the application of platoon driving still faces significant challenges. Existing studies often encounter reduced traffic efficiency when multiple platoons wait simultaneously. In this paper, we propose an adaptive platoon control scheme named APC for intersection scenarios to reduce travel time and fuel consumption during the passage through intersections. APC includes two main components: speed trajectory planning and optimal length planning. The speed trajectory planning minimizes delay and fuel consumption at intersections, and the optimal length planning ensures correct platoon maneuvers before intersection passage. Simulation experiments on the open-source platform VENTOS show that APC reduces travel time and fuel consumption by 20.30% and 13.99%, respectively, compared to similar methods. Particularly in high-density traffic, APC reduces travel time and fuel consumption by 23.08% and 19.58%, respectively.