Date of Award
5-1-2020
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Computer Science
First Advisor
Hexmoor, Henry
Abstract
In this day and age where the number of vehicles that are being used on highways and roads has been increasing considerably, there is a need for a global driving technique, or a driving phenomenon, where the vehicles can communicate with each other and maintain efficient driving positions by automating the process without the help of a human driver. With the available technology, self-driving cars are already under the spotlight, but these vehicles only offer limited support to the driver and they require human input in the process of driving. Argumentation techniques can be used to develop an efficient algorithm to resolve the conflicts between Agents i.e vehicles to allow safer travel, reduced emissions and better traffic distribution over road networks. Considering the importance of cooperative driving. platoon transition that has been overlooked in the existing research, our implementation tests the use of an Argumentation technique, on top of the platoons, providing an edge over the existing work related to self-driving vehicles. Utilizing the Argumentation allowed an effective way in resolving the conflicts among platoon leaders allowing a smoother transition of platoon groups. The conducted experiment compared the traffic flow of vehicles between two scenarios namely cooperative driving and non-cooperative driving, deriving the results that showcase the advantages of cooperative driving and also the role of argumentation in conflict resolution among vehicle agents.
Access
This thesis is Open Access and may be downloaded by anyone.