Simulation platform for cooperative vehicle systems

Road accidents is one of the major cause of deaths worldwide. Traffic is also one of the main problems in large cities. The development of intelligent transportation systems may contribute to the solution of both problems. Autonomous vehicles have been addressed by the academic community for decades and recently have been obtaining a considerable attention from the industry. One of the next steps for such technology is the development of communication systems that allow cooperative driving, which could improve the traffic efficiency. This paper proposes a simulation framework for the development of cooperative driving systems. Our framework is capable of accurate simulation of vehicles, sensors, complex environments, and wireless communication between vehicles. It is also compatible to well known robotic control middlewares, allowing portability of the develop code between real and simulated test vehicles. Results of cooperative adaptive cruise control with multiple vehicles are presented to validate the framework proposed.