Merits of intent sharing communication for platooning: energy efficiency and road capacity

In this paper we investigate the benefits of intent-sharing for platooning of connected automated vehicles (CAVs). Intent sharing is a new class of cooperation for CAVs, where each CAV share their planned future trajectory with other CAVs. In contrast, most existing platooning algorithms, are based on status-sharing cooperation, where CAVs only exchange their current position, speed, and acceleration. We present a receding horizon control framework for CAVs that utilizes intent messages, and minimizes spacing error with respect to the leading vehicle, while considering comfort and string stability. We compare our intent-sharing approach to a baseline CACC algorithm through microscopic simulations based on real-world highway data. Our simulations reveal significant improvements in energy efficiency and road capacity compared to the baseline CACC algorithm.