Abstract: The effectiveness of automated cone placement and retrieval is mainly depended on drivers' experience when they operate vehicles on freeways.Therefore, it is important to implement an intelligent guidance for automated cone placement vehicles to achieve optimal cone placement.The requirements for intelligent guidance are analyzed, and rules of a guide system are designed according to the specification of isolation for accident scenes on freeways.A control strategy of timing for cone placement is developed based on the feedback of vehicles' speed.A case study is conducted based on a developed platform of automated cone placement vehicles.The results show that when the intelligent guidance system is working, a cone placement vehicle operating with the speed of 5 km/h and 10 km/h, the average position error of cone placement is reduced by 72.46 % and 72.90%, respectively.The accumulative position error is reduced by 72.62% and 73.15%, respectively.The results show that the proposed guidance system can improve the intelligence and informatization of automated cone placement vehicles.This study can provide references for design and implementation of cone placement and retrieval vehicles in the future.