Lane-free Artificial-Fluid Concept for Vehicular Traffic
For traffic engineers and CAV researchers, this paradigm offers a new way to design traffic flow, but the work is preliminary and conceptual.
This paper proposes a novel lane-free traffic paradigm with vehicle nudging for connected and automated vehicles, claiming smoother driving, increased roadway capacity, and the ability to engineer traffic flow as an artificial fluid. Preliminary simulations illustrate basic features.
A novel paradigm for vehicular traffic in the era of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) is proposed, which includes two combined principles: lane-free traffic and vehicle nudging, whereby vehicles are "pushing" (from a distance, using communication or sensors) other vehicles in front of them. This traffic paradigm features several advantages, including: smoother and safer driving; increase of roadway capacity; and no need for the anisotropy restriction. The proposed concept provides, for the first time since the automobile invention, the possibility to actively design (rather than describe) the traffic flow characteristics in an optimal way, i.e. to engineer the future CAV traffic flow as an efficient artificial fluid. Options, features, application domains and required research topics are discussed. Preliminary simulation results illustrate some basic features of the concept.