Trajectory optimization for connected and automated vehicles in a drop-off area of the departure curbside

Abstract

Recently, advanced in-vehicle technologies have led to the emergence of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). CAVs are supposed to improve traffic efficiency and safety by coordinating the vehicles based on the communication among vehicles. This study addresses the trajectory optimization of CAVs in the drop-off area of the departure curbside, which consists of many conflict points. We first propose a centralized control method to optimize the trajectories of CAVs and then propose an implementation procedure to deal with the dynamic features and reduce the problem scales for practical instances. Contrast experiments are conducted to test the performance of the proposed control method. Results under various scenarios (different volumes, safety gaps, and desired speeds) demonstrate that CAVs controlled by the proposed method significantly outperform human-driven vehicles without control concerning mean travel time in the drop-off area.