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While traffic lanes were initially introduced as essential instruments for simplifying driving tasks for human drivers and increasing traffic safety, their necessity with the emergence and advancement of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) has to be questioned (Papageorgiou et al., 2021). CAVs are equipped with highly precise sensors and smart technologies for fast and reliable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication which allow them to make fast decisions based on control and management strategies in order to avoid collisions, efficiently move forward and also cooperate with other vehicles. Papageorgiou et al.(2021) introduced a novel paradigm for freeway traffic, called the TrafficFluid concept, based on two combined principles:" Lane-free traffic" and" Nudging". Within lane-free traffic, vehicles are not limited to traffic lanes but can use the whole road width, allowing for an increase in the efficiency of traffic operations. Nudging describes the effect of vehicles in front moving in a specific direction as they sense the presence of other vehicles with a higher desired speed. As one of the subjects to be investigated further for the lane-free-environment, Papageorgiou et al.(2021) mention “the possibilities and impact of vehicle platoons within the lane-free environment”.

In lane-based traffic, platoons are formed by CAVs that are grouped in a line along one lane with a very short headway resulting in fuel saving, improved safety and increased highway capacity (Kavathekar and Chen, 2011). In lane-free traffic, vehicles can be grouped not only longitudinally but also laterally across the whole road width. We …