Lane Change and Merge Maneuvers for Connected and Automated Vehicles: A Survey

TLDR

Vehicle intelligence has evolved to meet growing self‑driving expectations, yet most research has concentrated on longitudinal control, leaving lateral maneuvers such as lane changes and merges comparatively underexplored. This survey examines the state of research on lane‑change and merge maneuvers for connected and automated vehicles. It reviews control, positioning, communication, simulation, field‑test, surrounding‑vehicle, and human‑factor aspects relevant to these lateral maneuvers. While some successful studies and field tests exist, the field still requires standardization and further research to achieve comprehensive testing and commercial deployment.

Abstract

Intelligence in vehicles has developed through the years as self-driving expectations and capabilities have increased. To date, the majority of the literature has focused on longitudinal control topics (e.g. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Cooperative ACC (CACC), etc.). To a lesser extent, there have been a variety of research articles specifically dealing with lateral control, e.g., maneuvers such as lane changes and merging. This paper provides a survey of this particular area of vehicle automation. The key topics addressed are control systems, positioning systems, communication systems, simulation modeling, field tests, surroundings vehicles, and human factors. Overall, there has been some successful research and field testing in lane change and merge maneuvers; however, there is a strong need for standardization and even more research to enable comprehensive field testing of these lateral maneuvers, so that commercial implementation of automated vehicles can be realized.