Integrated Longitudinal and Lateral Control for High-Speed Platooning of Articulated Vehicles

This paper presents an integrated control framework for high-speed platooning of articulated vehicles, combining advanced longitudinal and lateral control strategies to address the challenges of safe and efficient autonomous driving. A novel proof of string stability for the proposed longitudinal control algorithm, based on a PID framework, ensures robust inter-vehicle distance regulation even under dynamic operating conditions. Additionally, an arc-length-based longitudinal error formulation enhances the applicability of the control system for curved roads, making it realistic for diverse driving scenarios. For lateral control, significant improvements to the clothoid-based path tracking algorithm are introduced to mitigate oscillations and enhance stability at high speeds. These enhancements include a tangential criterion for oscillation reduction, trajectory segment classification for adaptive lookahead distance tuning, a dual-adaptive mechanism for regulating the rate of lookahead distance adjustments based on both cross-track error (CTE) and anticipated road curvature, and extensions for articulated vehicle dynamics. The proposed integrated control framework is validated through simulations, demonstrating its effectiveness in maintaining stability, minimizing tracking errors, and ensuring robust performance in high-speed and challenging platooning scenarios.