Consensus-Based Platoon Control for Non-Lane-Discipline Connected Autonomous Vehicles Considering Time Delays

This study proposes consensus-based control protocols for connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) platoon with lateral gaps under a vehicle-to-vehicle communication environment. In particular, longitudinal and lateral consensus protocols are proposed considering the longitudinal and lateral gaps simultaneously as well as time delays. The stability and consensus of the proposed consensus protocol is analyzed using the Lyapunov-Krasovskii method. Under the proposed protocols, not only can the longitudinal consensus with respect to position and velocity of CAVs be guaranteed, but also the lateral consensus regarding to position and velocity of CAVs can be ensured. Finally, an example using a six-vehicle platoon under the bidirectional-leader topology is provided for two scenarios: no time delays and homogeneous time delays. Results from numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol in terms of the spacing error and velocity profiles.