Merging Behavior Simulation of Vehicular Platoon

Abstract

In vehicle platoon, vehicles travel in a row at short inter-vehicle distance in order to increase the traffic capacity and enhance the traffic safety. The aim of this study is to control velocity of the platoon vehicles when the platoon of two vehicles merges into the other platoon. The velocity control model is defined by means of the vehicle following model. The effectiveness of the model is discussed in the experiments of four LEGO MINDSTORM. The experimental result is compared with the simulation result. The results show that the trajectories of the vehicles in the platoon are similar both in experiment and in simulation although the vehicle movement in the experiment is delayed more than that in the simulation.