The effect of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) on congested traffic flow was investigated in terms of travel time on a freeway corridor with a lane closure section. The travel time including waiting time was dynamically measured at each departure time, and compared among traffic situations with different penetration rates of ACC-equipped vehicles. The investigation was done under congested flow conditions with variety of inflow traffic volumes. For this investigation, the author originally developed a microscopic traffic flow simulation model, and made the validation using the actual field data collected on the expressway in Japan. A numerical analysis using the traffic simulation model showed that the benefits which drivers receive from ACC vary with their departure times, and that penetration of ACC-equipped vehicles significantly reduced travel times even at high-demand congested flow states. It was concluded that even moderate ACC penetration helped to decrease total travel time during the process of alleviating traffic congestion after the lane closure.
Samenvatting