MicroSimACC: an open database for field experiments on the potential capacity impact of commercial Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)

Abstract

Commercial availability of vehicle automation has become mainstream. Most of today’s new vehicles can perform longitudinal car following autonomously via Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). Field experiments demonstrate that today’s commercially available ACC vehicles provide similar headways and capacities as human-driven vehicles on freeways under steady-state and free-flow conditions. However, field tests also demonstrated that the design of today’s commercially available ACC vehicles can lead to further capacity reduction when operating in non-steady-state conditions where queues are present and speeds frequently fluctuate. These experiments generated MicroSimACC, a comprehensive set of field data that encompasses full speed range car following with interruptions from lane change manoeuvres. This will benefit the research community by providing benchmark data for developing models to be integrated into microscopic simulations for more prospective analyses and planning.