The Flatbed Platoon Towing Model for Safe and Dense Platooning on Highways

Optimizing the inter-distances between vehicles is very important to reduce traffic congestion on highways. Variable spacing and constant spacing are the two policies for the longitudinal control of platoons. Variable spacing doesn't require a lot of data (position, speed...) from other vehicles, and string stability can be obtained using on-board information only. However, inter-vehicle distances are very large, and hence traffic density is low. Constant spacing offers string stability with high traffic density, but it requires data communication between the vehicles, at least from the leader. In this paper, a new platoon model and a modification of the variable spacing policy are proposed. This modification is effective to decrease the distances between the cars, making them nearly equal to the constant spacing policy. It also enables increasing string stability. This new approach doesn't require heavy communication between the vehicles. The new model is based on an unidirectional spring-damper model between vehicles, with the vehicles loaded on a virtual flatbed tow truck. From this configuration, conditions of stability and safety of a homogeneous platoon are derived. Based on this new model, a control has been derived and evaluated by simulation with a perfect system model using Matlab, and with a more realistic vehicle model using TORCS (The Open Racing Car Simulator). The simulation consists of a platoon of ten vehicles, moving on highways, with a desired inter-vehicle distance equal to 1 meter. The stability and the safety of the platoon are tested during platoon creation, changing the speed and emergency stop. The good results demonstrate the effectiveness of the new approach.