Research on vehicle cluster platoon and its effect on traffic stability based on hybrid communication architecture

Abstract The platoon control of connected and automated vehicles is one of the important research directions in the area of intelligent transportation systems. In order to achieve better platoon control of connected and automated vehicles, we propose a hybrid communication architecture that combines the high stability of VANET and the long-distance transmission of cellular networks. Based on the new communication architecture, we used the Two-step clustering method to cluster the vehicle platoon and further established a new vehicle control strategy with cluster head as the following target. Finally, through simulation, the fluctuation characteristics of the traffic flow under the new control strategy and the traditional car-following strategies are compared. The results show that the new control strategy constructed in this paper has smaller velocity fluctuations compared to the traditional car-following strategies. Also, less time is needed for the new control strategy to stabilize traffic flow.