Integrated Distributed Model Predictive Control for Vehicular Platoon Considering Node Vehicle Dynamics

Proper vehicle platoon control can promote traffic efficiency and save energy consumption. However, some critical driving conditions complicate the platoon control and deteriorate the controlling performance. To solve it, a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) strategy integrating platoon characteristics and node vehicle dynamics is designed to promote the platoon following performance under critical driving conditions, wherein the regulation of wheel rational dynamics of node vehicles is simultaneously incorporated into the platoon control. To this end, the vehicle dynamics model is firstly established with consideration of the influence of wheel speed. Then, the DMPC scheme is designed, including the formulation of the optimization problem for the node vehicles and the implementation process of the predictive controller. The sufficient condition of asymptotic stability for the platoon is derived by taking the sum of the cost functions of node vehicles as the Lyapunov function. Finally, the proposed control scheme is evaluated by simulations both in high and low adhesion road conditions. The results show that the proposed integrated control scheme of vehicular platoon can effectively ensure the asymptotic stability of the platoon in a broad range of operation conditions. Furthermore, incorporating wheel speed error can enhance the holistic following performance by 44% and 26% under high and low adhesion road conditions.