To study the potential benefits of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a simulation framework that analyzes the impact of partial market penetration of CAVs on fuel consumption, travel time and traffic flow in a merging on-ramp scenario under low, medium and heavy traffic volumes. In a study published in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles , they reported that an increased number of CAVs communicating and coordinating driving activity stabilize traffic flow and, depending on the traffic volume, can reduce fuel use by more than 40%. Intersections, merging roadways, speed reduction zones along with the drivers’ responses to various disturbances are the primary sources of bottlenecks that contribute to traffic congestion and stop-and-go driving with significant implications in both fuel consumption and traffic stability [3]–[7]. In 2015, congestion caused people in urban areas in US to spend 6.9 billion hours more on the […]