Platooning of connected automated vehicles on freeways: A bird's eye view

A platoon of connected automated vehicles (CAVs) is defined as a group of CAVs that exchange information, so that they can drive in a coordinated way, allowing very small spacings and, still, travelling safely at relatively high speeds. The concept of vehicle platooning is not new. Scientific articles on platooning have been published since the 1970s, and the first large-scale pilot test on vehicle platooning was carried out in the mid 1990s in California. By 1992, the first vehicle platooning experiments were successfully concluded, and the four-vehicle platoon capability was demonstrated for visitors on the I-15 HOV lanes in San Diego in 1994. The main purpose of these early research works was to improve traffic efficiency and reduce vehicle consumption, as well as to develop the existing technology, which represented a strong limitation at the time. Precisely, the development of new technologies and communications in the last decade has given a new impetus to the research on vehicle platooning on freeways, as one of the most promising forms of cooperation among CAVs. These recent studies have extended the analysis beyond traffic efficiency, including safety, sustainability, business productivity, among other objectives. In this context, today, there are many scientific publications on vehicle platooning with different purposes, scopes, scenarios, and based on a wide diversity of vehicles and technologies (i.e. regular or segregated lanes, cars or trucks, vehicles with different SAE levels, etc.). In order to organize and consolidate the existing knowledge on the field, a comprehensive and systematic review must be performed. The present work represents a first approach to this ambitious objective. First, platooning is conceptualized in order to facilitate its analysis and comparison among studies. Second, key publications on platooning are analyzed to determine the most significant impacts that can be expected from its implementation. Finally, some important research gaps and disparate findings on the topic are identified.