Platooning-as-a-Service in a Multi-Operator ETSI MEC Environment

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) is expected to support platooning of vehicles, by running the control logic that computes the acceleration values of the vehicles based on their position and speed. Connectivity between vehicles and the MEC system is likely to be realized through the mobile network. However, platoons will be composed of vehicles that are customers of different co-located mobile operators, hence– in all likelihood– will also be customers of different MEC systems. In this paper, we devise and evaluate an architectural framework that realizes Platooning-as-a-Service (PlaaS) in a multi-operator MEC environment, compliant with the ETSI MEC standard: we describe the entities involved and their interactions, we release an open-source proof-of-concept implementation for the popular Simu5G simulator, and we evaluate the effect of our framework– and especially its latencies– on platoon stability.