4way is delighted to celebrate Ali Mahdmina’s co-authored paper that was the winning submission for the Road Safety Category of the PIARC UK Prize Competition 2023. Ali collected the prize in person on September 18^th on behalf of all four co-authors. Ali will also be presenting a summary of the paper at the PIARC World Road Congress 2023 in Prague, early October. 4way are proud of the recognition Ali has achieved for this work and look forward to supporting him at Prague and beyond.

The paper considers the optimisation of Connected Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) platoons to manage risks specifically associated to tunnel operational environments. While platooning offers benefits like fuel efficiency and improved road space utilisation, it is also considered to present new operational risks and specific challenges for tunnels. Ali presents a review of these risks and explores a proposed solution which could reduce them to a tolerable level. The proposed solution leverages advancements in tunnel connectivity to support safe platooning through enhanced speed and headway controls. It involves use of an automated response framework that is based on dynamic risk assessments and information exchange between technology infrastructure and the approaching platoon, enabling it to reorganise itself into a ‘tunnel-friendly’ configuration sufficiently upstream of the tunnel portal.

More information about the PIARC World Road Congress can be found here.

Operational Safety Considerations for HGV Platooning in Tunnels; A. Mahdmina (4way Consulting, UK), H. Mongeot (Centre d’Etudes des Tunnels, France), A. Mos (Centre d’Etudes des Tunnels, France), F. Schmidt (Laboratoire MAST-EMGCU, Université Gustave Eiffel, France).