A Lane-Based Variable Speed Limit Control Method with the Application of Dedicated Lane Policy for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

To avoid negative interaction between human-driven vehicles (HVs) and connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) in the upcoming future, the dedicated lanes (DLs) for CAVs are explored. With the application of CAV DLs, those traditional traffic control and management techniques [e.g., variable speed limit (VSL) control] under the HV circumstance should be updated. This study aims to propose a novel VSL control strategy to improve efficiency of mixed traffic environment when the CAV DL policy is implemented. First, the applied CAV DL policies were introduced. And then, the cell transmission model (CTM) was updated to model the mixed traffic on different types of lanes [CAV DL and the general purpose lanes (GPLs)]. Furthermore, based on the model predictive control (MPC) algorithm, a lane-based variable speed limit (LVSL) control strategy was proposed to minimize the total travel time and maximize the total turnover flow by considering the mixed traffic condition and different lane types. Finally, a simulation scenario of a one-way two-lane highway segment under the conditions of mixed traffic flow and CAV DL was set up. The results indicated that compared with no LVSL, the application of LVSL could reduce the total travel time by 14.75% and 7.46% on the GPL and DL, respectively, and increased the total turnover flow by 11.07% on the GPL. It validated the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed LVSL control strategy.