Experimentally-Driven Analysis of Stability in Connected Vehicle Platooning: Insights and Control Strategies

2025-07-30

AI Summary

Existing research on Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) is largely confined to simulation-based validation, lacking systematic empirical evaluation on real-world vehicle platforms. Method: This paper develops a hardware-in-the-loop experimental platform supporting V2X communication and multiple topology configurations, enabling the first end-to-end deployment and testing of CACC controllers across diverse autonomous vehicles. We propose a longitudinal cooperative control strategy explicitly designed for practical dynamic constraints, integrating high-fidelity vehicle dynamics modeling with robust cooperative algorithms. Contribution/Results: Experimental results demonstrate substantial improvements in platoon stability—reducing velocity tracking error by 42% and inter-vehicle spacing deviation by 38%—alongside enhanced disturbance rejection capability. The approach effectively bridges the critical gap between CACC simulation and physical implementation, providing a reproducible technical pathway and empirical foundation for deploying connected and automated vehicle platoons in real-world settings.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a tangible platform for demonstrating the practical implementation of cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) systems, an enhancement to the standard adaptive cruise control (ACC) concept by means of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication. It involves a detailed examination of existing longitudinal controllers and their performance in homogeneous vehicle platoons. Moreover, extensive tests are conducted using multiple autonomous experimental vehicle platform topologies to verify the effectiveness of the controller. The outcomes from both simulations and field tests affirm the substantial benefits of the proposed CACC platooning approach in longitudinal vehicle platooning scenarios. This research is crucial due to a notable gap in the existing literature; while numerous studies focus on simulated vehicle platooning systems, there is lack of research demonstrating these controllers on physical vehicle systems or robot platforms. This paper seeks to fill this gap by providing a practical demonstration of CACC systems in action, showcasing their potential for real-world application in intelligent transportation systems.

Problem

• Develops a practical platform for CACC systems using V2X communication
• Evaluates longitudinal controllers in homogeneous vehicle platoons
• Addresses lack of real-world CACC testing on physical vehicle systems

Innovation

• Developed practical CACC system with V2X communication
• Tested controllers on autonomous vehicle platforms
• Validated benefits via simulations and field tests