Mixed-Integer Linear Programming for Optimal Scheduling of Autonomous Vehicle Intersection Crossing

We propose an urban traffic management scheme for an all connected vehicle environment. If all the vehicles are autonomous, for example, in smart city projects or future's dense city centers, then such an environment does not need a physical traffic signal. Instead, an intersection control server processes data streams from approaching vehicles, periodically solves an optimization problem, and assigns to each vehicle an optimal arrival time that ensures safety while significantly reducing number of stops and intersection delays. The scheduling problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP), and is solved by IBM CPLEX optimization package. The optimization outputs (scheduled access/arrival times) are sent to all approaching vehicles. The autonomous vehicles adjust their speed accordingly by a proposed trajectory planning algorithm with the aim of accessing the intersection at their scheduled times. A customized traffic microsimulation environment is developed to determine the potentials of the proposed solution in comparison to two baseline scenarios. In addition, the proposed MILP-based intersection control scheme is modified and simulated for a mixed traffic consisting of autonomous and human-controlled vehicles, all connected through a wireless communication to the intersection controller of a signalized intersection.