5. Nonlinear adaptive cruise control of vehicular platoons

Video Playlist 5. Nonlinear adaptive cruise control of vehicular platoons

The videos included in this playlist demonstrate the efficiency of (lane-based) nonlinear adaptive cruise controllers. The results are part of the paper entitled "Nonlinear adaptive cruise control of vehicular platoons". The proposed nonlinear controllers guarantee safety (collision avoidance), speed positivity, bounded acceleration, speed limits; by explicitly characterizing the set of allowable inputs and by leveraging barrier function techniques. Moreover, we guarantee global asymptotic stability of the platoon to a desired configuration, as well as string stability. The simulation scenarios in this playlist compare the proposed nonlinear controller (blue vehicles) with a conventional linear controller (red vehicles) that use the Constant Time-Headway policy.

Nonlinear ACC controller for platoons with speed limits

In this simulation scenario, the nonlinear Adaptive Cruise Controller (blue vehicles) guarantees that the speeds of all vehicles remain within the road speed limits (30.1 m/s) and converge to the leading vehicle’s speed of 27 m/s. It can be observed that the linear Constant Time-Headway controller (red vehicles) does not respect the speed limits.

Nonlinear ACC controller for platoons with speed limits

Nonlinear ACC controller for platoons with collision avoidance

When the leading vehicle strongly decelerates, the nonlinear Adaptive Cruise Controller (blue vehicles) guarantees collision avoidance while retaining positive speeds. On the other hand, linear Constant Time-Headway controller (red vehicles) admits collisions and unrealistic behavior with negative speeds.