Optimal Trajectory Control for Left-Turn Vehicles at Exit Lane for Left-Turn Intersections

The exit lane for left-turn (EFL) intersection is a newly proposed unconventional intersection that can alleviate left-turn traffic congestion at intersections. The EFL design characteristic lies in that a part of exit lanes can be provisionally used as left-turn lanes to provide additional capacity for left-turn traffic. The inappropriate lane selection of human drivers decreases the effectiveness of such design. This paper establishes an optimal trajectory planning model for left-turn vehicles at EFL intersections under the automated driving environment. The longitudinal acceleration and lane changing variables are optimized simultaneously. The optimization model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear model, which ensures the computational efficiency. The effectiveness of the proposed model is explored under various traffic, geometric, and signal control conditions. The results show that the model can provide a suitable control strategy for left-turn vehicles. On average, traffic delay can be reduced by 47.3%. The proposed model has a promising control effect under high volume conditions. Moreover, the proposed model performs stably under the various length of the mixed-usage area.