Delay-Based Spacing Policy for Platoon Control of Mixed Vehicles Under External Disturbances

This paper presents a novel control framework for mixed platoons composed of both connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles. Specifically, the proposed approach integrates a model predictive control strategy for the leading vehicle with a spatial-domain feedback controller for following CAVs based on a delay-based spacing policy, aiming to enhance energy efficiency and driving safety. Additionally, a radial basis function neural network is employed to approximate external disturbances, and a compensation mechanism is developed to improve control robustness. Numerical simulations validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, demonstrating significant improvements in platoon stability and disturbance resilience.