Distributed Platoon Control for Safe and Smooth Crossing at an Unsignalized Intersection-Part I: Stability Analysis

Abstract

We propose a distributed platoon controller that guarantees safe and smooth crossing of multi-vehicle systems at an unsignalized intersection. To support the stability analysis, we consider a multi-vehicle platoon maneuvering along a closed path with a single unsignalized intersection. Unlike traditional bi-level decoupled designs on open paths, which primarily focus on intersection control while neglecting its coupling with platoon convergence, and thus hindering rigorous convergence analysis, the closed-path setting allows us to analyze the asymptotic behavior of the platoon. The local exponential convergence analysis of the switched closed-loop system, induced by repeated vehicle switching at the intersection, is presented. Under some mild conditions on the controller gains, we show that safe intersection crossing is ensured during the transient phase and smooth crossing is achieved in steady state, where all vehicles travel at a common constant speed while avoiding collisions at the intersection. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed distributed controller is demonstrated in a high-fidelity CARLA simulator using multiple commercial vehicle models.