Distributed Platooning Control of Automated Vehicles Subject to Replay Attacks Based on Proportional Integral Observers

Secure platooning control plays an important role in enhancing the cooperative driving safety of automated vehicles subject to various security vulnerabilities.This paper focuses on the distributed secure control issue of automated vehicles affected by replay attacks.A proportional-integral-observer(PIO)with predetermined forgetting parameters is first constructed to acquire the dynamical information of vehicles.Then,a time-varying parameter and two positive scalars are employed to describe the temporal behavior of replay attacks.In light of such a scheme and the common properties of Laplace matrices,the closed-loop system with PIO-based controllers is transformed into a switched and time-delayed one.Furthermore,some sufficient conditions are derived to achieve the desired platooning performance by the view of the Lyapunov stability theory.The controller gains are analytically determined by resorting to the solution of certain matrix inequalities only dependent on maximum and minimum eigenvalues of communication topologies.Finally,a simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Safe Motion Planning and Control Framework for Automated Vehicles with Zonotopic TRMPC

Model mismatches can cause multi-dimensional uncertainties for the receding horizon control strategies of automated vehicles(AVs).The uncertainties may lead to potentially hazardous behaviors when the AV tracks ideal trajectories that are individually optimized by the AV's planning layer.To address this issue,this study proposes a safe motion planning and control(SMPAC)framework for AVs.For the control layer,a dynamic model including multi-dimensional uncertainties is established.A zonotopic tube-based robust model predictive control scheme is proposed to constrain the uncertain system in a bounded minimum robust positive invariant set.A flexible tube with varying cross-sections is constructed to reduce the controller conservatism.For the planning layer,a concept of safety sets,representing the geometric boundaries of the ego vehicle and obstacles under uncertainties,is proposed.The safety sets provide the basis for the subsequent evaluation and ranking of the generated trajectories.An efficient collision avoidance algorithm decides the desired trajectory through the intersection detection of the safety sets between the ego vehicle and obstacles.A numerical simulation and hardware-in-the-loop experiment validate the effectiveness and real-time performance of the SMPAC.The result of two driving scenarios indicates that the SMPAC can guarantee the safety of automated driving under multi-dimensional uncertainties.

Intelligent back-looking distance driver model and stability analysis for connected and automated vehicles

The connected and automated vehicles(CAVs)technologies provide more information to drivers in the car-following(CF)process.Unlike the human-driven vehicles(HVs),which only considers information in front,the CAVs circumstance allows them to obtain information in front and behind,enhancing vehicles perception ability.This paper proposes an intelligent back-looking distance driver model(IBDM)considering the desired distance of the following vehicle in homogeneous CAVs environment.Based on intelligent driver model(IDM),the IBDM integrates behind information of vehicles as a control term.The stability condition against a small perturbation is analyzed using linear stability theory in the homogeneous traffic flow.To validate the theoretical analysis,simulations are carried out on a single lane under the open boundary condition,and compared with the IDM not considering the following vehicle and the extended IDM considering the information of vehicle preceding and next preceding.Six scenarios are designed to evaluate the results under different disturbance strength,disturbance location,and initial platoon space distance.The results reveal that the IBDM has an advantage over IDM and the extended IDM in control of CAVs car-following process in maintaining string stability,and the stability improves by increasing the proportion of the new item.

Not in Control,but Liable?Attributing Human Responsibility for Fully Automated Vehicle Accidents

Human agency has become increasingly limited in complex systems with increasingly automated decision-making capabilities.For instance,human occupants are passengers and do not have direct vehicle control in fully automated cars(i.e.,driverless cars).An interesting question is whether users are responsible for the accidents of these cars.Normative ethical and legal analyses frequently argue that individuals should not bear responsibility for harm beyond their control.Here,we consider human judgment of responsibility for accidents involving fully automated cars through three studies with seven experiments(N=2668).We compared the responsibility attributed to the occupants in three conditions:an owner in his private fully automated car,a passenger in a driverless robotaxi,and a passenger in a conventional taxi,where none of these three occupants have direct vehicle control over the involved vehicles that cause identical pedestrian injury.In contrast to normative analyses,we show that the occupants of driverless cars(private cars and robotaxis)are attributed more responsibility than conventional taxi passengers.This dilemma is robust across different contexts(e.g.,participants from China vs the Republic of Korea,participants with first-vs third-person perspectives,and occupant presence vs absence).Furthermore,we observe that this is not due to the perception that these occupants have greater control over driving but because they are more expected to foresee the potential consequences of using driverless cars.Our findings suggest that when driverless vehicles(private cars and taxis)cause harm,their users may face more social pressure,which public discourse and legal regulations should manage appropriately.

Slow driving control of tracked vehicles with automated mechanical transmission based on fuzzy logic

In order to move tracked vehicles at an extremely slowspeed with automated mechanical transmission（ AMT）,slowdriving function was added in the original system. The principle and requirement of slowdriving function were analyzed. Based on analysis of slow driving characteristic,identification of slowdriving condition and fuzzy control algorithm,a control strategy of the clutch was designed. In order to realize slowdriving,the clutch was controlled in a slipping mode as manual driving. The vehicle speed was increased to a required speed and kept in a small range by engaging or disengaging the clutch to the approximate half engagement point. Based on the control strategy,a control software was designed and tested on a tracked vehicle with AMT. The test results showthat the control of the clutch with the slowdriving function was smoother than that with original systemand the vehicle speed was slower and steadier.

Dynamic Event-Triggered Scheduling and Platooning Control Co-Design for Automated Vehicles Over Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

This paper deals with the co-design problem of event-triggered communication scheduling and platooning control over vehicular ad-hoc networks(VANETs)subject to finite communication resource.First,a unified model is presented to describe the coordinated platoon behavior of leader-follower vehicles in the simultaneous presence of unknown external disturbances and an unknown leader control input.Under such a platoon model,the central aim is to achieve robust platoon formation tracking with desired inter-vehicle spacing and same velocities and accelerations guided by the leader,while attaining improved communication efficiency.Toward this aim,a novel bandwidth-aware dynamic event-triggered scheduling mechanism is developed.One salient feature of the scheduling mechanism is that the threshold parameter in the triggering law is dynamically adjusted over time based on both vehicular state variations and bandwidth status.Then,a sufficient condition for platoon control system stability and performance analysis as well as a co-design criterion of the admissible event-triggered platooning control law and the desired scheduling mechanism are derived.Finally,simulation results are provided to substantiate the effectiveness and merits of the proposed co-design approach for guaranteeing a trade-off between robust platooning control performance and communication efficiency.

Resilient and Safe Platooning Control of Connected Automated Vehicles Against Intermittent Denial-of-Service Attacks

Connected automated vehicles(CAVs)serve as a promising enabler for future intelligent transportation systems because of their capabilities in improving traffic efficiency and driving safety,and reducing fuel consumption and vehicle emissions.A fundamental issue in CAVs is platooning control that empowers a convoy of CAVs to be cooperatively maneuvered with desired longitudinal spacings and identical velocities on roads.This paper addresses the issue of resilient and safe platooning control of CAVs subject to intermittent denial-of-service(DoS)attacks that disrupt vehicle-to-vehicle communications.First,a heterogeneous and uncertain vehicle longitudinal dynamic model is presented to accommodate a variety of uncertainties,including diverse vehicle masses and engine inertial delays,unknown and nonlinear resistance forces,and a dynamic platoon leader.Then,a resilient and safe distributed longitudinal platooning control law is constructed with an aim to preserve simultaneous individual vehicle stability,attack resilience,platoon safety and scalability.Furthermore,a numerically efficient offline design algorithm for determining the desired platoon control law is developed,under which the platoon resilience against DoS attacks can be maximized but the anticipated stability,safety and scalability requirements remain preserved.Finally,extensive numerical experiments are provided to substantiate the efficacy of the proposed platooning method.

Effect of information delay on string stability of platoon of automated vehicles under typical information frameworks

The effect of the information delay, which was caused by thc naturc of the distance sensors and wireless communication systems, on the string stability of platoon of automated vehicles was studied. The longitudinal vehicle dynamics model was built by taking the information delay into consideration, and three typical information frameworks, i.e., leader-predecessor framework （LPF）, multiple-predecessors framework （MPF） and predecessor-successor framework （PSF）, were defined and their related spacing error dynamics models in frequency domain were proposed. The string stability of platoon of automated vehicles was analyzed for the LPF, MPF and PSF, respectively. Meanwhile, the related sufficient string stable conditions were also obtained. The results demonstrate that the string stability can be guaranteed tbr the LPF and PSF with considering the information delay, but the ranges of the control gains of the control laws are smaller than those without considering the information delay. For the MPF, the ＂weak＂ string stability, which can be guaranteed without considering the information delay, cannot be obtained with considering the information delay. The comparative simulations further demonstrate that the LPF shows better string stability, but the PSF shows better string scalable performance.

Modelling of a Human Driver’s Interaction with Vehicle Automated Steering Using Cooperative Game Theory

The introduction of automated driving systems raised questions about how the human driver interacts with the automated system. Non-cooperative game theory is increasingly used for modelling and understanding such interaction, while its counterpart, cooperative game theory is rarely discussed for similar applications despite it may be potentially more suitable. This paper describes the modelling of a human driver’s steering interaction with an automated steering system using cooperative game theory. The distributed Model Predictive Control approach is adopted to derive the driver’s and the automated steering system’s strategies in a Pareto equilibrium sense, namely their cooperative Pareto steering strategies. Two separate numerical studies are carried out to study the influence of strategy parameters, and the influence of strategy types on the driver’s and the automated system’s steering performance. It is found that when a driver interacts with an automated steering system using a cooperative Pareto steering strategy, the driver can improve his/her performance in following a target path through increasing his/her effort in pursuing his/her own interest under the driver-automation cooperative control goal. It is also found that a driver’s adoption of cooperative Pareto steering strategy leads to a reinforcement in the driver’s steering angle control, compared to the driver’s adoption of non-cooperative Nash strategy. This in turn enables the vehicle to return from a lane-change maneuver to straight-line driving swifter.

Comparative Study of Trajectory Tracking Control for Automated Vehicles via Model Predictive Control and Robust H-infinity State Feedback Control

A comparative study of model predictive control(MPC)schemes and robust Hstate feedback control(RSC)method for trajectory tracking is proposed in this paper.The main objective of this paper is to compare MPC and RSC controllers’performance in tracking predefined trajectory under different scenarios.MPC controller is designed based on the simple longitudinal-yaw-lateral motions of a single-track vehicle with a linear tire,which is an approximation of the more realistic model of a vehicle with double-track motion with a non-linear tire mode.RSC is designed on the basis of the same method as adopted for the MPC controller to achieve a fair comparison.Then,three test cases are built in CarSim-Simulink joint platform.Specifically,the verification test is used to test the tracking accuracy of MPC and RSC controller under well road conditions.Besides,the double lane change test with low road adhesion is designed to find the maximum velocity that both controllers can carry out while guaranteeing stability.Furthermore,an extreme curve test is built where the road adhesion changes suddenly,in order to test the performance of both controllers under extreme conditions.Finally,the advantages and disadvantages of MPC and RSC under different scenarios are also discussed.

Application of Automated Guided Vehicles in Smart Automated Warehouse Systems:A Survey

Automated Guided Vehicles(AGVs)have been introduced into various applications,such as automated warehouse systems,flexible manufacturing systems,and container terminal systems.However,few publications have outlined problems in need of attention in AGV applications comprehensively.In this paper,several key issues and essential models are presented.First,the advantages and disadvantages of centralized and decentralized AGVs systems were compared;second,warehouse layout and operation optimization were introduced,including some omitted areas,such as AGVs fleet size and electrical energy management;third,AGVs scheduling algorithms in chessboardlike environments were analyzed;fourth,the classical route-planning algorithms for single AGV and multiple AGVs were presented,and some Artificial Intelligence(AI)-based decision-making algorithms were reviewed.Furthermore,a novel idea for accelerating route planning by combining Reinforcement Learning(RL)andDijkstra’s algorithm was presented,and a novel idea of the multi-AGV route-planning method of combining dynamic programming and Monte-Carlo tree search was proposed to reduce the energy cost of systems.

Simultaneous scheduling of machines and automated guided vehicles in flexible manufacturing systems using genetic algorithms

The problem of simultaneous scheduling of machines and vehicles in flexible manufacturing system (FMS) was addressed.A spreadsheet based genetic algorithm (GA) approach was presented to solve the problem.A domain independent general purpose GA was used,which was an add-in to the spreadsheet software.An adaptation of the propritary GA software was demonstrated to the problem of minimizing the total completion time or makespan for simultaneous scheduling of machines and vehicles in flexible manufacturing systems.Computational results are presented for a benchmark with 82 test problems,which have been constructed by other researchers.The achieved results are comparable to the previous approaches.The proposed approach can be also applied to other problems or objective functions without changing the GA routine or the spreadsheet model.

Strategy to control crawling vehicles with automated mechanical transmission

In order to move vehicles with automated mechanical transmission （AMT） a little bit of distance, such as reversing into or moving in a garage, a control strategy for crawling vehicles was proposed. Based on the dynamic analysis of vehicle starting process and requirements of crawl driv- ing for the vehicle, a control strategy of the clutch was designed. The strategy increased the.slipping friction torque first and then decreased it, in order to realize the crawl driving. The speed increased by the engagement of the clutch, and then the clutch turned to disengage to the half disengage point, when the speed met the requirements. Based on the control strategy, a control software was de- signed. In the end, the software was tested on a vehicle with AMT. The lowest steady vehicle speed was reduced to 40% of the original value, which was set in the control strategy.

Study on scheduling algorithm for multiple handling requests of single automated guided vehicles

To solve the problem of small amount of machining centers in small and medium flexible manufacture systems(FMS), a scheduling mode of single automated guided vehicle(AGV) is adopted to deal with multiple transport requests in this paper. Firstly, a workshop scheduling mechanism of AGV is analyzed and a mathematical model is established using Genetic Algorithm. According to several sets of transport priority of AGV, processes of FMS are encoded, and fitness function, selection, crossover, and variation methods are designed. The transport priority which has the least impact on scheduling results is determined based on the simulation analysis of Genetic Algorithm, and the makespan, the longest waiting time, and optimal route of the car are calculated. According to the actual processing situation of the workshop, feasibility of this method is verified successfully to provide an effective solution to the scheduling problem of single AGV.

On String Stable Control of Platoon of Automated Vehicles with Predecessor-successor Information Framework

For the constant distance spacing policy,the existing researches of the string stability focus on the single-predecessor information framework（SPIF） and predecessor-successor information framework（PSIF）.The research results demonstrated that the string stability could not be guaranteed with the SPIF,and then the PSIF was proposed to resolve this string instability.But the issue,whether the string stability can be guaranteed when applying the PSIF,is still controversial.Meanwhile,most of the previous researches on the string stability were conducted without consideration of the parasitic time delays and lags.In this paper,the practical longitudinal vehicle dynamics model is built with consideration of the parasitic time delays and lags existing in the actuators,sensors or the communication systems.Secondly,the detailed theoretical analysis of string stability in frequency domain is conducted to demonstrate that the classical linear control laws can not ensure the string stability when applying both the symmetrical PSIF（SPSIF） and asymmetrical PSIF（APSIF）.Thirdly,a control law,which adds the position and velocity information of the leading vehicle,is proposed to guarantee string stability for small/medium platoon,and the other control law,which adds the acceleration information of the controlled vehicle,is proposed to guarantee string stability for large platoon as well as small/medium platoon.Finally,the comparative simulation is conducted to confirm the conducted analysis and the proposed control laws.The conducted research completes the means to analyze the string stability in frequency domain,provides the parameters＇ reference for the design and implementation of the practical automatic following controllers,and improves the reliability and stability of the platoon of automatic vehicles.

Automated Autonomous Vehicles: Prospects and Impacts on Society

All automobile manufacturing companies, Google and Microsoft have announced recently their production of the Fully Automated Autonomous Vehicles (FAAVs), otherwise known as driverless cars. A few FAAVs would be available in the market as early as in 2018, but mostly in 2020’s. When FAAVs will be available to and become affordable by the average consumers, the implications to the society would be far reaching. The purpose of the paper is to examine the prospect of the popularity of FAAVs and their socio-economic implications to the future society of the World. The paper examines potential impacts on selected sectors of the society including changes in demand for automobiles, its impact on the use of oil, on the environment, and on urban land uses, to list a few.

A greedy path planning algorithm based on pre-path-planning and real-time-conflict for multiple automated guided vehicles in large-scale outdoor scenarios

With the wide application of automated guided vehicles(AGVs) in large scale outdoor scenarios with complex terrain,the collaborative work of a large number of AGVs becomes the main trend.The effective multi-agent path finding(MAPF) algorithm is urgently needed to ensure the efficiency and realizability of the whole system. The complex terrain of outdoor scenarios is fully considered by using different values of passage cost to quantify different terrain types. The objective of the MAPF problem is to minimize the cost of passage while the Manhattan distance of paths and the time of passage are also evaluated for a comprehensive comparison. The pre-path-planning and real-time-conflict based greedy(PRG) algorithm is proposed as the solution. Simulation is conducted and the proposed PRG algorithm is compared with waiting-stop A^(*) and conflict based search(CBS) algorithms. Results show that the PRG algorithm outperforms the waiting-stop A^(*) algorithm in all three performance indicators,and it is more applicable than the CBS algorithm when a large number of AGVs are working collaboratively with frequent collisions.

Integrated Sensing and Communication Enabled Multiple Beamwidth and Power Allocation for Connected Automated Vehicles

Connected autonomous vehicles(CAVs)are a promising paradigm for implementing intelligent transportation systems.However,in CAVs scenarios,the sensing blind areas cause serious safety hazards.Existing vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V)technology is difficult to break through the sensing blind area and ensure reliable sensing information.To overcome these problems,considering infrastructures as a means to extend the sensing range is feasible based on the integrated sensing and communication(ISAC)technology.The mmWave base station(mmBS)transmits multiple beams consisting of communication beams and sensing beams.The sensing beams are responsible for sensing objects within the CAVs blind area,while the communication beams are responsible for transmitting the sensed information to the CAVs.To reduce the impact of inter-beam interference,a joint multiple beamwidth and power allocation(JMBPA)algorithm is proposed.By maximizing the communication transmission rate under the sensing constraints.The proposed non-convex optimization problem is transformed into a standard difference of two convex functions(D.C.)problem.Finally,the superiority of the lutions.The average transmission rate of communication beams remains over 3.4 Gbps,showcasing a significant improvement compared to other algorithms.Moreover,the satisfaction of sensing services remains steady.

Stability of connected and automated vehicles platoon considering communications failures

As a form of a future traffic system,a connected and automated vehicle(CAV)platoon is a typical nonlinear physical system.CAVs can communicate with each other and exchange information.However,communication failures can change the platoon system status.To characterize this change,a dynamic topology-based car-following model and its generalized form are proposed in this work.Then,a stability analysis method is explored.Finally,taking the dynamic cooperative intelligent driver model(DC-IDM)for example,a series of numerical simulations is conducted to analyze the platoon stability in different communication topology scenarios.The results show that the communication failures reduce the stability,but information from vehicles that are farther ahead and the use of a larger desired time headway can improve stability.Moreover,the critical ratio of communication failures required to ensure stability for different driving parameters is studied in this work.

Efficient control of connected and automated vehicles on a two-lane highway with a moving bottleneck

This paper investigates the traffic flow of connected and automated vehicles(CAVs)inducing by a moving bottleneck on a two-lane highway.A heuristic rules-based algorithm(HRA)has been used to control the traffic flow upstream of the moving bottleneck.In the HRA,some CAVs in the control zone are mapped onto the neighboring lane as virtual ones.To improve the driving comfort,the command acceleration caused by virtual vehicle is restricted.Comparing with the benchmark in which the CAVs change lane as soon as the lane changing condition is met,the HRA significantly improves the traffic flow:the overtaking throughput as well as the outflow rate increases,the travel delay and the fuel consumption decrease,the comfort level could also be improved.