Real and virtual leader-follower strategies in lane changing, merging and overtaking maneuvers

This paper designs a nonlinear, time-invariant motion planner that guarantees collision-free lane changing, merging and overtaking maneuvers, whilst considering all practical limitations and constraints due to the system nonholonomy, workspace geometry, and steering specifications. The motion planner derived from the Lyapunov-based Control Scheme works within an overarching leader follower scheme. We note that lane merging is accomplished through a host of strategies, inter alia, the robot from the merging lane is strategically assigned a separate target, and the platoon has its own target. The platoon overtaking is facilitated via virtual-leader technique, whereas single robot overtaking is facilitated via real-leader follower strategy. The effectiveness of the control laws is demonstrated via computer simulations. It also emphasizes the potential contribution to the intelligent vehicle system's discipline.