Search

This paper presents a stochastic stable control protocol for heterogeneous vehicle platoon subject to communication topologies change, external disturbance, and information delay. First, a random vehicle platoon system composed entirely of several pure electric vehicles is built. The random variation of data transmission link among the platoon in a natural traffic environment is considered and molded by the Markov chain combined with the directed graph method. The influence of delays and discrete data in wireless communication, road slope, and air resistance on the vehicle platoon is also considered by introducing the external interferences and equivalent information delays. Additionally, to ensure the vehicle platoon’s inner-vehicle stability, the variable-gain distributed controller is proposed based on the Markovian jumping system stability theory and $ H_\infty$ control. Finally, the $ \mathcal {L}_{2}$ stochastic string stability is defined to attenuate perturbations as they propagate through the platoon. Simulation studies about a vehicle platoon under four communication topologies random switching with two different control methods are provided to verify the theoretical result. It is shown that, compared to traditional platoon robust control, it is possible to achieve the vehicle platoon’s stability even if in the continuous mutation of unstable topologies by using the proposed control approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Path planning is a critical part for improving the driving safety and driver comfort of autonomous vehicles (AVs), especially in complex maneuvering conditions. In addition, different drivers have different preferences for AVs, thus, how to provide personalized trajectories for different drivers is a vital issue for AVs. The collision-free path planning problem in conditions with large road curvatures is investigated in this paper, with the consideration of environmental safety constraints, drivers’ comfort, vehicle actuator constraints, etc. Firstly, a Driver-Vehicle-Road (DVR) system is established based on the combination of the kinematic vehicle model and the two-point visual preview driver model, such that the driver's individual handling characteristics can be considered in the controller. The kinematic vehicle model is modified to have the similar understeering characteristics with those of the nonlinear full car models, and then the proposed DVR system can satisfy different groups of drivers and cars. Secondly, for environmental constraints, a new artificial potential field (APF) method is proposed, which can form a banana-shaped 3-D dangerous imaginary mountain and a lane boundary cliff suitable for arbitrary curvature roads to generate a collision-free evasive path. Finally, the Linear-Time-Varying (LTV) model predictive control (MPC) method is adopted to design the path planner. The CarSim-Simulink joint simulation illustrates that with the proposed planner, the host vehicle is capable of avoiding obstacles with a safer and more comfortable maneuver on large curvature roads. And the proposed path planner can provide individually safe trajectories for different drivers with good maneuverability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an integrated platoon control framework for heterogeneous vehicles on curved roads with varying slopes, aerodynamic drag, and wireless communication delays. First, a linear heterogeneous vehicle platoon model with decoupled longitudinal and lateral dynamics is built based on nonlinear feedback linearization and arc-length parametric transformation of an arbitrary curved road. The external disturbances are also considered, including the up-down road slopes, wind and equivalent time-delays caused by the wireless communication delay and discrete data in onboard sensors. Second, to achieve stable platoon control on a curved road, the platoon uses the state-feedback control method in the longitudinal direction while each vehicle tracks the centerline of the curved road to realize lateral control. Longitudinally, an $ H_\infty$ platoon controller is designed based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional to ensure the inner-vehicle and string stability of the platoon, which suffers from parameter uncertainty, and external disturbances. Additionally, the $ \mathcal {L}_2$ string stability is defined to guarantee that the perturbations do not grow unbounded as they propagate through the platoon. Simulation results indicate that the proposed robust controller achieves proper platoon intervehicle spacing in both the longitudinal and lateral directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]