Connected and automated vehicle platoon formation control via differential games

Abstract

In this study, the connected and automated vehicles platooning problem is resolved under a differential game framework. Three information topologies are considered here. Firstly, the Predecessor-following topology is utilised where the vehicles control the distance with respect to the merely nearest predecessor via a sensor link-based information flow. Secondly, the Two-predecessor-following topology is exploited where each vehicle controls the distance with respect to the two nearest predecessors. In this topology, the second predecessor is communicated via a Vehicle-to-vehicle link. The individual trajectories of connected and automated vehicles under the Nash equilibrium are derived in closed-form for these two information topologies. Finally, general information topology is examined and the differential game is formulated in this context. In all these options, Pontryagin's principle is employed to investigate the existence and uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium and obtain its corresponding trajectories. In the general topology, we suppose numerical computation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Finally, the stability behaviour of the platoon for the Predecessor-following, Two-predecessor-following and general topologies are investigated. All these approaches represent promising and powerful analytical representations of the connected and automated vehicle platoons under the differential games. Simulation experiments have verified the efficiency of the proposed models and their solutions as well as their better results in comparison with the Model Predictive Control.