A Novel Multimode Hybrid Control Method for Cooperative Driving of an Automated Vehicle Platoon

A multimode hybrid automaton is proposed for setting vehicle platoon modes with velocity, distance, length, lane position, and other state information. Based on a vehicle platoon shift movement under different modes, decisions are made based on key conditional actions, such as sudden acceleration changes because of vehicle distance changes, emergency braking to avoid collisions and free-lane changing choices adapted to various traffic conditions, so as to ensure effortless movement and safety in the multimode shift. With a 3-degree (longitudinal, lateral, and yaw directions) of the freedom coupled model, a hybrid vehicle platoon controller is proposed using nonsingular terminal sliding-mode control to ensure fast and steady tracking on the hybrid automaton outputs during the multimode shift process. The convergence of the hybrid controller in finite time is also analyzed with the Lyapunov exponential stability. The analysis result proves that the proposed controller not only ensures the stability of the individual vehicle and the vehicle platoon but also ensures the stability of the multimode shift movement system. The proposed cooperative driving strategy for vehicle platoon is evaluated using simulations, where varying traffic conditions and the influence of cutting off are considered in conjunction with demonstration simulations of a vehicle platoon's cruising, following, lane changing, overtaking, and moving in/out of garage functions.