Connected vehicles and drive-less cars have been a subject of reporting in multiple major media outlets; major public (U.S. Department of Transportation – DOT - Connected Vehicle – CV – deployment project) and private (The Hyundai Empty Car Envoy) initiatives are exploring the role of the corresponding technologies in the future of our highway system. However, the safety and the congestion implications of such technologies at the network level are not yet understood especially when dealing with the heterogeneous responsiveness of the drivers (i.e. users) as a function of the surrounding traffic conditions (weather, road geometry, vehicle type …etc.). Accordingly, the main objective of this project is to answer the following question: how will connected vehicle technologies improve traffic safety and mobility at a network level? The answer would entail performing extensive data mining and analysis, statistical modeling, driver behavioral modeling, connected vehicle systems analysis and modeling, network implementation, multiple models’ integration and calibration, simulation, sensitivity analysis, field testing and validation.
Principal Investigators: Samer H. Hamdar and Seungmo Kang (co-PIs)
Sponsor: Simon Lee Collaborative Research Endowment
Period: July 2015 – June 2020* (conditional)