Smart-Contract-Based Economical Platooning in Blockchain-Enabled Urban Internet of Vehicles

To improve the urban traffic condition and reduce accidents, we propose a platoon-driving model for autonomous vehicles in a free-flow traffic state in this article. This model allows vehicles with successful path matching to be grouped in a platoon and led by the platoon head (PH). In addition, a PH selection scheme is introduced to provide an incentive for vehicles to be PHs and maintain the dynamic update of platoons. Next, a smart contract is employed to enable the payment based on a blockchain between the PH and platoon members (PMs), avoiding the malicious and false payments. The numerical results show that the platoon model is superior to the individual driving model in terms of fuel consumption. The comparison between carpooling and noncarpooling modes within the platoon shows that our model has a better performance in terms of PH revenue and PM's service charge.