This paper proposes an approach to make constant-spacing vehicle platoons robust to large delays and loss of communication. It is well known that centralized communication of the desired trajectory is important to simultaneously guarantee both string stability and constant-spacing in platoons. However, the performance of the resulting connected vehicle system (CVS) is vulnerable to large communication delays and communication loss. The main contribution of this work is a new delayed-self-reinforcement-based (DSR-based) approach that approximates the centralized communication based control by a decentralized predecessor follower (PF) control. The resulting blending of centralized communication with the decentralized DSR approach results in predecessor-leader follower (PLF) control with (i) robustness of the convergence to consensus under large communication delays and (ii) substantially-smaller spacing errors under loss of communication. Comparative simulations show that, for the same level of robustness to internal-stability and string-stability, the variation in settling time to consensus for PLF with DSR under large communication delays is 95% less than PLF without DSR and the steady-state error with DSR under loss of communication is 80% less than PLF without DSR.

The newest iteration of the Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions is the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge. In this paper, ANL and HORIBA MIRA collaborate to propose and pilot a test method that enables controlled, repeatable track-based energy consumption testing of semi-autonomous features. The testing was performed at MIRA's proving ground facility in Nuneaton, UK, using their Network Guided Vehicle (NGV) connectivity and automation test platform. The NGV served as a repeatable lead vehicle following prescribed drive traces around two different track circuits while the host vehicle under test, a Honda Civic with full speed range Adaptive Cruise Control, followed behind. Over the course of a two day test, multiple iterations of certification and custom EPA drive traces were performed on track, demonstrating the viability of a two vehicle energy test. Results were analyzed to assess NGV lead vehicle performance in following the prescribed cycle using SAE J2951 standard calculations in an effort to quantify how repeatably and accurately the lead vehicle followed the trace. Host vehicle energy consumption was assessed using both vehicle CAN bus monitoring and an on-board fuel flow meter.

This paper addresses the problem of finding globally optimal trajectories of multi-degree-of-freedom open-chain systems while minimizing integral cost functionals. The contributions of this paper are: (i) explicit optimality equations in terms of inertia matrix and potential energy of the system, (ii) compatability conditions on the terminal conditions of the system consistent with the cost functional, (iii) robust computational procedure for solving the two-point boundary value problem in differential-algebraic equations using multiple shooting method, and (iv) an integrated software for dynamic optimization and simulation of open-chain systems.