Examining the Impact on Road Safety of Different Penetration Rates of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication and Adaptive Cruise Control

In recent years, significant attention has been paid to the implementation of cooperative driving by means of the integration of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication, which has led to a wide range of applications with the potential to enhance road safety and prevent traffic accidents. Prior to the implementation of these systems in vehicles, comprehensive analysis through exhaustive and realistic simulations is vital. Accordingly, this paper presents the effects on road safety of a variety of penetration rates of vehicles equipped with ADAS and V2V, either separately or combined, using the simulation platforms Scene Suite and Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO). A total of six simulation scenarios were developed, three for intersections and three for urban cases. The obtained results show that the ADAS Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) requires combination with V2V communication in order to increase safety, especially in certain scenarios with side and rear-end collisions. However, V2V alone at the lowest penetration rate already provided a level of safety similar to the one reached by combining it with ADAS-ACC.