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CAVs as mobile safety actuators: authorization rules, performance evidence, and deployment pathways for managing oscillation-induced safety risks

delete2026-08-06
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PRE
AI
S
Shunchao Wang
M
Mengmeng Zhang
Z
Zhibin Li *
Q
Qi Cao
M
Meng Li
DOI:10.1016/j.tra.2026.105187delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Traffic oscillations generate localized and rapidly evolving rear-end conflict risks that are difficult to address through conventional infrastructure-centered traffic-management instruments. This study develops a selective connected and automated vehicle (CAV) authorization framework for managing oscillation-induced safety risks by treating qualified CAVs as temporary mobile safety actuators. The framework authorizes a small number of CAVs to perform bounded jam-absorption driving maneuvers only when observable oscillation states, vehicle positions, and safety constraints satisfy implementable operational rules. Traffic-flow theory and car-following dynamics are used to derive triggering conditions, absorbing-vehicle designation rules, no-secondary-jam constraints, termination conditions, and coordination logic for single-, two-, and multiple-oscillation scenarios. Scenario-based numerical experiments are conducted to evaluate safety-risk exposure, traffic smoothing and stability, traffic efficiency, mixed-traffic effects, and parameter sensitivity. Based on the intervention framework and scenario-based performance evidence, this study further identifies policy and practice pathways for translating vehicle-level automation capabilities into freeway safety-management decisions. Across representative scenarios, Time Exposed Time-to-Collision and modified Time Integrated Time-to-Collision decrease by 48.93–68.52% and 46.42–64.20%, respectively, while total travel time is reduced by 5.52–11.71%. Further analyses indicate that intervention effectiveness depends on CAV market rate, authorization delay, deceleration limits, and TTC-threshold settings, suggesting that these factors should be treated as policy and certification variables rather than purely algorithmic tuning parameters. The study also clarifies how CAV-based JAD can be embedded in traffic-management practice through event-based authorization, responsibility allocation, performance monitoring, and staged deployment. These findings provide policy-relevant evidence that selectively authorized CAV interventions can complement conventional traffic management by enabling localized, bounded, and auditable freeway safety governance.

Journal

T
Transportation Research Part A-Policy and Practice
IF:
6.8
Papers:
5.0K
Citations:
2.4W

Organization

K
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Scholars:
3.2K
Papers: 1.3K
Citations: 254
S
shandong jiaotong university
Scholars:
809
Papers: 325
Citations: 19
H
Harbin Institute of Technology
Scholars:
1.2W
Papers: 3.9K
Citations: 8.5W
S
Southeast University
Scholars:
1.8W
Papers: 7.7K
Citations: 480
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