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In this paper, a comparative analysis of the exact and heuristic algorithms presented by the method of branches and boundaries, genetic and ant algorithms, respectively, is carried out to find the optimal solution to the traveling salesman problem using the example of a courier robot. The purpose of the work is to determine the running time, the length of the obtained route and the amount of memory required for the program to work, using the method of branches and boundaries and evolutionary heuristic algorithms. Also, the most appropriate of the listed methods for use in the specified conditions is determined. This article uses the materials of the conducted research, implemented in the format of a computer program, the program code for which is implemented in Python. In the course of the study, a number of criteria for the applicability of algorithms were selected (the time of the program, the length of the constructed route and the amount of memory necessary for the program to work), the results of the algorithms were obtained under specified conditions and conclusions were drawn about the degree of expediency of using one or another algorithm in various specified conditions of the courier robot. During the study, it turned out that for a small number of points  $\leqslant10$, the method of branches and boundaries is the most preferable, since it finds the optimal solution faster. However, when calculating the route by this method, provided that the points increase by more than 10, the operating time increases exponentially. In this case, more effective results are obtained by a heuristic approach using a genetic and ant algorithm. At the same time, the ant algorithm is distinguished by solutions that are closest to the reference ones and with an increase of more than 16 points. Its relative disadvantage is the greatest resource intensity among the considered algorithms. The genetic algorithm gives similar results, but after increasing the points more than 16, the length of the found route increases relative to the reference one. The advantage of the genetic algorithm is its lower resource intensity compared to other algorithms.

The practical significance of this article lies in the potential possibility of using the results obtained for the optimal solution of logistics problems by an automated system in various fields: warehouse logistics, transport logistics, «last mile» logistics, etc.

The gradual incorporation of automated vehicles into the global transport networks leads to the need to develop tools to assess the impact of this process on various aspects of traffic. This implies a more organized movement of automated vehicles which can form uniformly moving platoons. The influence of the formation and movement of these platoons on the dynamics of traffic flow is of great interest. The currently most developed traffic flow models are based on the cellular automaton approach. They are mainly developed in the direction of increasing accuracy. This inevitably leads to the complication of models, which in their modern form have significantly moved away from the original philosophy of cellular automata, which implies simplicity and schematicity of models at the level of evolution rules, leading, however, to a complex organized behavior of the system. In the present paper, a simulation model of connected automated vehicles platoon dynamics in a heterogeneous transport system is proposed, consisting of two types of agents (vehicles): human-driven and automated. The description of the temporal evolution of the system is based on modified rules 184 and 240 for elementary cellular automata. Human-driven vehicles move according to rule 184 with the addition of accidental braking, the probability of which depends on the distance to the vehicle in front. For automated vehicles, a combination of rules is used depending on the type of nearest neighbors, regardless of the distance to them, which brings non-local interaction to the model. At the same time, it is considered that a group of sequentially moving connected automated vehicles can form an organized platoon. The influence of the ratio of types of vehicles in the system on the characteristics of the traffic flow during free movement on a circular one-lane and two-lane roads, as well as in the presence of a traffic light, is studied. The simulation results show that the effect of platoon formation is significant for a freeway traffic flow; the presence of a traffic light reduces the positive effect by about half. The movement of platoons of connected automated vehicles on two-lane roads with the possibility of lane changing was also studied. It is shown that considering the types of neighboring vehicles (automated or human-driven) when changing lanes for automated vehicles has a positive effect on the characteristics of the traffic flow.

Intersections present a very demanding environment for all the parties involved. Challenges arise from complex vehicle trajectories; occasional absence of lane markings to guide vehicles; split phases that prevent determining who has the right of way; invisible vehicle approaches; illegal movements; simultaneous interactions among pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles. Unsurprisingly, most demonstrations of AVs are on freeways; but the full potential of automated vehicles — personalized transit, driverless taxis, delivery vehicles — can only be realized when AVs can sense the intersection environment to efficiently and safely maneuver through intersections.

AVs are equipped with an array of on-board sensors to interpret and suitably engage with their surroundings. Advanced algorithms utilize data streams from such sensors to support the movement of autonomous vehicles through a wide range of traffic and climatic conditions. However, there exist situations, in which additional information about the upcoming traffic environment would be beneficial to better inform the vehicles’ in-built tracking and navigation algorithms. A potential source for such information is from in-pavement sensors at an intersection that can be used to differentiate between motorized and non-motorized modes and track road user movements and interactions. This type of information, in addition to signal phasing, can be provided to the AV as it approaches an intersection, and incorporated into an improved prior for the probabilistic algorithms used to classify and track movement in the AV’s field of vision.

This paper is concerned with the situation in which there are objects that are not visible to the AV. The driving context is that of an intersection, and the lack of visibility is due to other vehicles that obstruct the AV’s view, leading to the creation of blind zones. Such obstruction is commonplace in intersections.

Our objective is:

1) inform a vehicle crossing the intersection about its potential blind zones;

2) inform the vehicle about the presence of agents (other vehicles, bicyclists or pedestrians) in those blind zones.

We suggested some approaches for solving image processing tasks in the decision support system (DSS) of the Center for Automated Recording of Administrative Offenses of the Road Traffic (CARAO). The main task of this system is to assist the operator in obtaining accurate information about the vehicle registration plate and the vehicle brand/model based on images obtained from the photo and video recording systems. We suggested the approach for vehicle registration plate recognition and brand/model classification on the images based on modern neural network models. LPRNet neural network model supplemented by Spatial Transformer Layer was used to recognize the vehicle registration plate. The ResNeXt-101-32x8d neural network model was used to classify for vehicle brand/model. We suggested the approach to construct the training set for the neural network of vehicle registration plate recognition. The approach is based on computer vision methods and machine learning algorithms. The SIFT algorithm was used to detect and describe local features on images with the vehicle registration plate. DBSCAN clustering was used to detect and delete outliers in such local features. The accuracy of vehicle registration plate recognition was 96% on the testing set. We suggested the approach to improve the efficiency of using the ResNeXt-101-32x8d model at additional training and classification stages. The approach is based on the new architecture of convolutional neural networks with “freezing” weight coefficients of convolutional layers, an additional convolutional layer for parallelizing the classification process, and a set of binary classifiers at the output. This approach significantly reduced the time of additional training of neural network when new vehicle brand/model classification was needed. The final accuracy of vehicle brand/model classification was 99% on the testing set. The proposed approaches were tested and implemented in the DSS of the CARAO of the Republic of Tatarstan.