Fuel-efficient Model Predictive Control for Heavy Duty Vehicle Platooning using Neural Networks

The demand for fuel-efficient transport solutions are steadily increasing with the goal of reducing environmental impact and increasing efficiency. Heavy-Duty Vehicle (HDV) platooning is a promising concept where multiple HDVs drive together in a convoy with small intervehicular spacing. By doing this, the aerodynamic drag is reduced which in turn lowers fuel consumption. We propose a novel Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework for longitudinal control of the follower vehicle in a platoon consisting of two HDVs when no vehicle-to-vehicle communication is available. In the framework, the preceding vehicle's velocity profile is predicted using artificial neural networks which uses a topographic map of the road as input and is trained offline using synthetic data. The gear shifting and mass of consumed fuel for the controlled follower vehicle is modeled and used within the MPC controller. The efficiency of the proposed framework is verified in simulation examples and is benchmarked with a currently available control solution.