Collision Avoidance Strategy for Autonomous Intersection Management by a Central Optimizer Algorithm

The increasing volume of traffic worldwide enlightens the problem of ensuring driving safety and preventing collisions at unsignalized intersections. In this regard, with the advent of Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), Collision Avoidance (CA) and Autonomous Intersection Management (AIM) problems have been intensively studied and many cooperative and optimization-based approaches have been proposed. In this paper, we introduce a double-level collision-free control system, performed by a Central Optimizer (CO) and local CAV controllers, that allows CAVs to safely cross the intersection at the same time. The CO collects data from CAVs and imposes waiting times at specific waypoints that are then used by the low-level controllers to regulate the vehicle speed. The main advantage of the presented method is that a less complex optimization problem is formulated by imposing waiting times rather than determining the speed profile. A simulation campaign conducted on Matlab shows the performance of the proposed approach.