Motorway traffic related VACS

Motorway traffic related VACS may be classified according to their aimed functionalities in the following categories:

The focus of TRAMAN21 project is on these systems, which may be deployed for motorway traffic management purposes.

To improve traffic flow efficiency, motorway traffic management should be able to make control decisions regarding speeds, headways, and lane change/merge manoeuvres of the vehicles, as well as to provide route guidance. To this end, efficient control algorithms and strategies are necessary, as well as suitable actuators to enable the materialisation of the control decisions and recommendations. These actuators may be provided by motorway traffic related VACS depending upon:

Their enabled function(s), which when deployed consciously may have extremely positive effects to the traffic flow
Their level of autonomy, which defines their functional requirements, as well as their deployment potential by the motorway traffic management system

According to their enabled function(s), motorway traffic related VACS may be classified in:

According to their level of autonomy, motorway traffic related VACS may be classified in:

Autonomous systems
Cooperative systems, which may be further classified in:

To see the specific systems within each category, follow the corresponding category link above. To find out more about these systems, check the provided references. Click here for a complete record of references.

For a complete mapping of the motorway traffic-related VACS with respect to their function(s) and level of autonomy click here.

Last updated on 03/06/2014.

Latest News

An article on Connected and Automated Driving (CAD) and the TRAMAN21 project has been published on the ERC website. -LINK-

An article on Connected and Automated Driving (CAD) has been published on the CORDIS website in six languages. -LINK-
This CORDIS Results Pack focuses on eight projects that are spearheading CAD research funded under the EU’s FP7 and Horizon 2020 research programmes. TRAMAN21 is one of these projects. -LINK-

Prof. Markos Papageorgiou and the TRAMAN21 Team received the 2018 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society Outstanding ITS Application Award for "Contributions in Vehicle Automation and Communication Systems and Applications". The award was presented to Prof. Ioannis Papamichail during the 21st IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Maui, Hawaii, USA, November 4-7, 2018.

Dr. Maria Kontorinaki, a former PhD student within TRAMAN21, received the 2nd Prize for the 2018 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society Best PhD Dissertation Award.

Maria Kontorinaki, a former PhD student within TRAMAN21, was elected Lecturer in Operations Research in the Department of Statistics and Operations Research within the Faculty of Science at the University of Malta. Maria has been a member of the Dynamic Systems and Simulation Laboratory from 2012 to September 2017. Since October 2017 she has been a post-doctoral researcher at KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus. We are certain that she will continue a brilliant academic career. Best wishes, Maria!

Prof. M. Papageorgiou will be presenting "Traffic Management for the 21st Century" within the Distinguished Lecture Series of the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada on 1 February 2018. -LINK-

Mrs. Vasiliki Kalliga, an undergraduate member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully her Diploma Thesis in September 2017. The Diploma thesis is entitled "Model calibration with variable speed limits on motorways". -LINK-

Maria Kontorinaki, a PhD student within TRAMAN21, received a post-doctoral researcher position at KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Dr. Konstantinos Makantasis, postdoctoral researcher within TRAMAN21, received a post-doctoral researcher position at KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Maria Kontorinaki, a member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, accomplished successfully her PhD thesis defense on September 7, 2017. The jury comprised one external member (Prof. Elias Kosmatopoulos - Democritus University of Thrace, Greece), as well as the TRAMAN21 researchers Profs. M. Papageorgiou, I. Karafyllis, I. Papamichail, I. Nikolos, A. Delis and C. Roncoli. The PhD thesis is entitled "Advanced Nonlinear Control Concepts for Freeway Traffic Networks". -LINK-

An Award for the "Best paper presented by a woman" was presented by the 5th IEEE International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems (MT-ITS 2017) to Dr. Anastasia Spiliopoulou for an article co-authored by DSSL. -LINK-

Mr. Typaldos Panagiotis, an MSc student, member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully his MSc Thesis in June 2017. The MSc thesis is entitled "Minimization of fuel consumption for vehicle trajectories ". -LINK-

Ms. Georgia-Roumpini Iordanidou, a PhD student, member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully her PhD Thesis in March 2017. The PhD thesis is entitled "Traffic flow control on motorways for throughput maximization". -LINK-

Ms. Sofia Papadopoulou, an MSc student, member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully her Master Thesis in March 2017. The Master thesis is entitled "Microscopic simulation-based validation of a per lane traffic state estimation scheme on highways with connected vehicles". -LINK-

An Award for the "Best Freeway Operations Paper in 2016" was presented by the TRB Freeway Operations Committee to Prof. M. Papageorgiou (on behalf of Dr. A, Spiliopoulou) for an article co-authored by DSSL.-LINK-

Dr. Nikolaos Bekiaris-Liberis was awarded a competitive (about 1/7 of the submitted proposals are successful every year) 2016 Marie Curie-Sklodowska individual fellowship grant by the European Commission to develop PDE-based control designs for traffic flow.

Ms. Georgia Perraki, an MSc student, member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully her Master Thesis in November 2016. The Master thesis is entitled "Evaluation of a model predictive control strategy on a calibrated multilane microscopic model". -LINK-

Dr. Claudio Roncoli, postdoctoral researcher within TRAMAN21, was elected Assistant Professor at Aalto University (Finland). Claudio has been a pillar for the project with valuable contributions over the last 3.5 years. Given his extraordinary qualities, we are certain that he will have a brilliant academic career. Best wishes, Claudio!

Ms. Iris Philopoulou, an undergraduate member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully his Diploma Thesis in August 2016. The Diploma thesis is entitled "Multi-lane trafic state estimation in presence of connected vehicles: A case study in High way I-80 Emeryville, California ".-LINK-

Mr. Antonios Georgantas, an undergraduate member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully his Diploma Thesis in July 2016. The Diploma thesis is entitled "Vehicle path and traffic flow optimization via lane changing of automated or semi-automated vehicles in motorways". -LINK-

Mr. Markos Fountoulakis, an MSc student, member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully his Master Thesis in July 2016. The Master thesis is entitled "Highway traffic state estimation with mixed connected and conventional vehicles: Microsimulation testing". -LINK-

The announcement here below, referring to TRAMAN21’s field trial in Melbourne, Australia, was reproduced by a plethora of Greek and Australian media. -LINK-

An announcement entitled "World-First Technology Keeps Traffic Moving On The M80", which reflects TRAMAN21’s field trial in Melbourne, Australia, was posted in the website “Premier of Victoria (The Hon. Daniel Andrews MP)” of Victoria State Premier Minister. -LINK-

Mr. Panagiotis Stratidis, an undergraduate member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalized successfully his Diploma Thesis in June 2016. The Diploma thesis is entitled "Modelling of Cooperative Lane Changing in Highways". -LINK-

The 1^st Symposium on Management of Future motorway and urban Traffic Systems (MFTS 2016) was successfully held in Chania, Greece, on June 2-3, 2016. The Symposium gathered 88 participants from 21 countries from around the globe. A number of 47 invited presentations were held by distinguished researchers in the area. The full Program and Book of Abstracts may be downloaded at this LINK. The Scientific Committee decided that this Symposium would be the first in a series of bi-annual symposia on this highly relevant topic, and the 2^nd Symposium on Management of Future motorway and urban Traffic Systems (MFTS 2018) will be held at the JRC (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre), Ispra, Italy.

Mr. Stathis Papaliakos, an undergraduate member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalised successfully his Diploma thesis in May 2016. The Diploma thesis is entitled "Application of nonlinear adaptive control to local and coordinated ramp metering in freeway networks". -LINK-

We are happy to report that our application to extend the TRAMAN21 duration by one year has been approved by ERC. The TRAMAN21 team is continuing enthusiastically its productive and groundbreaking work, now through February 2018. We are thankful to ERC for this decision.

Read the article dedicated to the Dynamic Systems and Simulation Laboratory in IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine (vol. 7, No. 3, 2015, pp. 82-85). -LINK-

Interested colleagues who missed (or could not enter due to exceeded system capacity) Prof. Papageorgiou's webinar on "Traffic Management in the ERA of VACS" may find the presentation slides or watch offline the recorded video on the VRA-Project Website here.
All the Webinars organised by the VRA-project are available on the VRA Website in the section library here

Ms. Dimitra Dimitriadi, an undergraduate member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, finalised successfully her Diploma thesis in August 2015. The Diploma thesis is entitled "Application of Optimal Control methods for the fuel consumption minimization of vehicles on motorways".

Prof. Markos Papageorgiou will deliver a webinar, organized by the European VRA (Vehicle and Road Automation) project, on "Traffic management in the era of vehicle automation and communication systems (VACS)" on September 4, 2015, at 15:30 - 16:30 (CET). For more information and registration to the Webinar click here.

Anastasia Spiliopoulou, a member of DSSL and contributor to TRAMAN21, accomplished successfully her PhD thesis defense on 15 June 2015. The jury comprised 3 external members (Prof. Alex Skabardonis - University of California Berkeley, Prof. Nikolas Geroliminis - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Dr. Konstantinos Ampountolas - University of Glasgow), as well as the TRAMAN21 researchers Profs. M. Papageorgiou, I. Nikolos, A. Delis and I. Papamichail. The PhD thesis is available here.

On the occasion of the TRAMAN21 mid-term review, we accounted for the visits of this website of the project. Up to now, the website was visited about 84.500 times by 9.175 different visitors (characterised by different IPs). Some 44% of visitors were from European countries, 30% from Asian countries, 25% from North American countries, and the remaining 1% from the rest of the World. We thank our visitors for the interest in this project and we will do our best to continue to deliver interesting information and results to the relevant technical and research community.

Listen to the invited interview on "Traffic Modeling, Control and Optimization, Theory and Applications" delivered by Prof. M. Papageorgiou for the IEEE-ITS Podcast24 which went online on 1 April 2015. -LINK-

An Award for the "Best Freeway Operations Paper in 2014" was presented by the TRB Freeway Operations Committee to Prof. M. Papageorgiou for an article co-authored by DSSL. -LINK-

The ex-PhD student of our Dynamic Systems and Simulation Laboratory Dr. Mehdi Keyvan-Ekbatani won the 2^nd price of the Best Dissertation Award 2014 of IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society. The award was presented on 9 October 2014 in the frame of the 17^th Intern. IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Qingdao, China. Mehdi has been a post-doc researcher with the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands, since early 2014. -Photo-

The first TRAMAN21 report has been released. It provides a review and analysis of VACS, focusing particularly on systems which are relevant for future motorway traffic management concepts. Enter Reports to read and/or download the complete report.

TRAMAN21 is looking for interested motorway Road Authorities to cooperate in the preparation and execution of an innovative field trial. See here for details.

Watch the invited honorary webinar “Freeway Traffic Control: Past, Present and Future” by Prof. Markos Papageorgiou, organised by the Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics of the TRB (Transportation Research Board).

On behalf of TRAMAN21, the Technical University of Crete has entered the consortium of the European 7FP VRA - Support Action for International Vehicle and Road Automation Network.

TRAMAN21 Workshop 2013 was organised in Chania (Greece) on 1^st November 2013. For further details, visit the TRAMAN21 Workshop website. The presentations given at the Workshop could be downloaded from this link.

Enter WP1 Progress to access current results from VACS literature review and classification, and stay tuned for updates and forthcoming analyses of the most promising, with respect to road efficiency, motorway operations-related systems.