Robust Car-Following Control of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: A Stochastic Model Predictive Control Approach

Vehicle platooning has attracted growing attention for its potential to enhance traffic capacity and road safety. This paper proposes an innovative distributed Stochastic Model Predictive Control (SMPC) for a vehicle platoon system to enhance the robustness and safety of the vehicles in uncertain traffic environments. In particular, considering the similarity between the acceleration or deceleration behaviour of neighbouring vehicles and the spring-scale properties, we use a two-mass spring system for the first time to construct an uncertain dynamic model of a formation system. In the presence of uncertain perturbations with known distributional attributes (expectation, variance), we propose an objective function in the form of expectation along with probabilistic chance constraints. Subsequently, a state feedback control mechanism is devised accordingly. Under the cumulative probability distribution function of stochastic perturbations, we theoretically derive a computationally tractable equivalent of the SMPC model. Finally, simulation experiments are designed to validate the control performance of the SMPC platoon controllers, along with an analysis of the stability performance under varying probabilities. The experimental findings demonstrate that the model can be efficiently solved in real-time with appropriately chosen prediction horizon lengths, ensuring robust and safe longitudinal vehicle formation control.