Jointly dampening traffic oscillations and improving energy consumption with electric, connected and automated vehicles: A reinforcement learning based approach

• It has been well recognized that human driver's limits, heterogeneity, and selfishness substantially compromise the performance of our urban transport systems. In recent years, in order to deal with these deficiencies, our urban transport systems have been transforming with the blossom of key vehicle technology innovations, most notably, connected and automated vehicles. In this paper, we develop a car following model for electric, connected and automated vehicles based on reinforcement learning with the aim to dampen traffic oscillations (stop-and-go traffic waves) caused by human drivers and improve electric energy consumption. Compared to classical modelling approaches, the proposed reinforcement learning based model significantly reduces the modelling constraints and has the capability of self-learning and self-correction. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed model is able to improve travel efficiency by reducing the negative impact of traffic oscillations, and it can also reduce the average electric energy consumption.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Transportteknik och logistik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Transport Systems and Logistics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Annan teknik -- Övrig annan teknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Other Engineering and Technologies -- Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Farkostteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Vehicle Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Traffic oscillations

Connected and automated vehicles

Electric vehicles

Machine learning

Energy consumption

Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient

Reinforcement learning

Car following

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)