MPC-Based Trajectory Tracking Control Strategy Incorporating Autonomous Lane-Changing Mechanism for Intelligent Vehicles

Navigating the intricate traffic environment, lane-changing has emerged as a frequent and essential driving maneu-ver for intelligent vehicles. However, it is challenging to guarantee the safety of the intelligent vehicle and the trajectory tracking accuracy against the external environment during lane-changing. Considering these challenges to overcome, the model predictive control (MPC)-based trajectory tracking strategy incorporating an autonomous lane-changing mechanism is proposed in this paper. The autonomous lane-changing mechanism considering lane-changing intention is proposed to ensure that the intelligent vehicle generates safe lane-changing decisions and trajectories. Subsequently, the MPC strategy that considers the physical char-acteristics of the intelligent vehicle is proposed to guarantee the accuracy and smoothness of trajectory tracking. The validation of its effectiveness and advantages is established on the PreScan and MATLAB/Simulink co-simulation platforms.