Distributed Control Algorithm for Vehicle Coordination at Traffic Intersections

Paper in proceeding, 2018

This paper proposes a distributed closed-loop control algorithm for optimal coordination of autonomous vehicles at traffic intersections. The main contribution of the paper is a distributed plug-and-play closed-loop optimal control scheme with rear-end collision avoidance constraints enforced on each lane, which maintains recursive feasibility under the assumption that communication between neighboring vehicles is possible. The method is closely related to model predictive control, but at each sampling time new vehicles are allowed to enter the modeled region around the intersection while other vehicles are leaving. In contrast to human drivers, autonomous vehicles can collaboratively form the deceleration strategy before the intersection. Our numerical results indicate that, under certain assumptions, it is optimal for vehicles not allowed to directly pass the intersection to slow down much before the intersection area and then accelerate at the right time so that they can travel through the intersection faster.