Modelling cooperative driving in congestion shockwaves on a freeway network

The development of advanced driver assistance technology continues to proceed rapidly. Cooperative systems based on wireless communication are a specific form of advanced driver assistance that is currently evolving rapidly. A drawback in the development of such systems is that options for large scale field-testing and - development of these automated systems are limited. Traffic simulation however offers widespread options for testing. In this paper the effects of cooperative driving using cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) to influence congestion shockwaves are evaluated on a part of the Amsterdam freeway network. The effects of congestion shockwaves on a network scale can be different to uniform freeway sections due to interaction between varying traffic flows. The application of CACC to mitigate the negative effects of shockwaves on a network level are simulated and analysed in this research for varying levels of CACC penetration. The results are analysed on both a quantitative as well as qualitative level and give a deeper understanding into the possibilities of the mass application of CACC systems.