Computational model for continuous flow of autonomous vehicles at road intersections

The increasing advances in technologies used in autonomous vehicles have improved the reliability of their controls, making them more likely to be accepted by drivers and thus more common on the streets. When all vehicles become autonomous, traffic lights will need to be more efficient. In this sense, this article presents a computational model to manage the crossing of autonomous vehicles at road intersections, so that they can flow continuously along the roads without needing to stop, except in extreme cases. Based on the developed model, we implemented an algorithm and a simulator to control the behavior of autonomous vehicles with different lengths when crossing an intersection. In order to evaluate the performance of this method, we carried out 10 thousand simulations for each combination of the intersection controller’s distances of action and vehicle group size, in a total of 600 thousand simulations. Thus, a relationship was observed between the method’s efficiency and the controller’s range, where the number of collisions was zero for distances greater than or equal to 2300 m. Method efficiency was also related to the average speeds at which the vehicles crossed the intersection, which was close to their average initial speed.