Early Opportunities to Apply Automation in California Managed Lanes

Liu, Hao; McKeever, Benjamin B.; Lu, Xiao-Yun; Shladover, Steven E. · 2019 · ROSA P / University of California, Berkeley. Institute of Transportation Studies

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Summary

This report identifies specific opportunities to leverage California’s managed lane network as early experimental and pilot deployment sites for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs). The research was motivated by the potential of CAVs to improve traffic safety, travel time reliability, roadway capacity, and environmental impacts. Managed lanes are considered ideal testbeds because they concentrate equipped vehicles in close proximity with some separation from general traffic, allowing them to interact as if they represented a larger fraction of the vehicle population. The study aims to capitalize on California’s extensive managed lane network and its concentration of automotive research facilities to accelerate CAV deployment. The researchers conducted a detailed inventory and assessment of nine managed lane facilities across the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Sites were evaluated based on criteria including continuous lane length (at least 10 miles), heavy congestion in adjacent lanes, peak-hour activation, and physical configuration diversity. Following site visits, the team assessed 11 CAV applications against metrics such as technological readiness, suitability for managed lanes, and infrastructure availability. The study focused on applications involving vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. The analysis recommended the I-15 Express Lanes in San Diego and the I-10 Express Lanes in Los Angeles as the most promising sites for future CAV tests. The I-15 site was prioritized due to its physical segregation from general traffic, extensive Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) infrastructure, and status as an official USDOT CAV proving ground. The I-10 site was selected for its diverse physical configurations and existing rapid bus line integration. From the assessed applications, five were selected for testing: highway Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC), V2I speed harmonization, freeway merge coordination, automated bus rapid transit, and automated barrier mover vehicles. Applications such as eco-traffic signal control were excluded as they operate on arterials rather than freeways. The report concludes that deploying these five applications at the recommended sites will likely yield increased capacity, reduced congestion, and smoother traffic flow. However, the authors note that at least two years of preparation are required before testing or initial deployment can occur, involving vehicle fleet acquisition and infrastructure upgrades. The findings provide a strategic roadmap for Caltrans and local agencies to utilize managed lanes as controlled environments for validating CAV technologies, thereby facilitating earlier realization of system-level transportation benefits.

Key finding

The I-15 Express Lanes in San Diego and the I-10 Express Lanes in Los Angeles are identified as the most suitable sites for early CAV testing, with five specific applications selected for conceptual deployment plans.

Methodology

review

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