Robust Lateral Control of a Convoy of Autonomous & Connected Vehicles with Limited Preview

This paper addresses the lateral control of Autonomous & Connected Vehicles (ACVs) convoys during Emergency Lane Change (ELC) maneuvers. These maneuvers are initiated in response to emergency cues from either the front or rear of the convoy, responding to the need to avoid obstacles or facilitate the passage of other vehicles. The primary objective of this study is to develop a lateral control scheme for ACVs based on the available information. The foundational assumption in this study is the existence of reliable connectivity among ACVs, wherein each subsequent ACV possesses information concerning the GPS position traces of both the lead and immediately preceding vehicles within the convoy. This connectivity facilitates the construction of a composite ELC trajectory that synthesizes this information, serving as a "discretized" preview of the trajectory to be tracked. The procedural steps include constructing this composite trajectory, determining cross-track error, heading, and yaw rate errors relative to it, and subsequently formulating a lateral control strategy. Furthermore, the paper presents findings on the lateral string stability of ACV convoys across various scenarios, encompassing changes in longitudinal velocity and scenarios where lead vehicle information is unavailable. Numerical and experimental results validate the efficacy of the proposed lateral control scheme for ACV convoys.