  Leveraging the accuracy and consistency of vehicle motion control enabled by
the connected and automated vehicle technology, we propose the rhythmic control
(RC) scheme that allows vehicles to pass through an intersection in a
conflict-free manner with a preset rhythm. The rhythm enables vehicles to
proceed at a constant speed without any stop. The RC is capable of breaking the
limitation that right of way can only be allocated to non-conflicting movements
at a time. It significantly improves the performance of intersection control
for automated traffic. Moreover, the RC with a predetermined rhythm does not
require intensive computational efforts to dynamically control vehicles, which
may possibly lead to frequent accelerations or decelerations. Assuming
stationary vehicle arrivals, we conduct theoretical investigation to show that
RC can considerably increase intersection capacity and reduce vehicle delay.
Finally, the performance of RC is tested in the simulations with both
stationary and non-stationary vehicle arrivals at both symmetric and asymmetric
intersections.
