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Distributed multilane merging for connected autonomous vehicle platooning

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Abstract

In the context of coordination of connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs), the platooning operation is a promising application. The formulation of a single stream of CAVs is conducive to traffic efficiency and merging operations extend the benefits for multilane road users. However, the problem of simultaneous merging and platooning lacks comprehensive investigation. A solution is formulated in this paper through a new scheme that considers inter-vehicle safety distance constraints and distributed deployment utilizing local inter-vehicle information exchanges. A distributed consensus-based controller synthesized with a collision avoidance design is developed to direct the CAVs to maintain the velocity and spacing required to avoid inter-vehicle collisions. Furthermore, a framework fusing an agent motion model with vehicle controllers based on a dynamics model that facilitates both longitudinal and lateral controls is proposed, contributing to a cross-model planning-tracking controller. Theoretical proof of asymptotic stability of the proposed controller and its collision avoidance capability are also elaborated. The merging and platooning function was tested in a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) experiment, demonstrating the precise tracking performance and comparable merging responses to a typical multiagent system. In comparison with trajectory-based merging algorithms, the proposed framework is able to achieve finer stepwise tracking results without centralized coordination or predefined trajectories.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0102503) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52072243).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Jingkai Wu, Yafei Wang & Chengliang Yin

  2. School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Zhaokun Shen & Lin Wang

  3. School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522, Australia

    Haiping Du

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  1. Jingkai Wu
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  2. Yafei Wang
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  3. Zhaokun Shen
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  4. Lin Wang
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  5. Haiping Du
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  6. Chengliang Yin
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Correspondence to Chengliang Yin.

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Wu, J., Wang, Y., Shen, Z. et al. Distributed multilane merging for connected autonomous vehicle platooning. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 64, 212202 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-020-3107-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-020-3107-7

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