A merging control algorithm based on inter-vehicle communication

Deals with merging control of vehicles with inter-vehicle communication on highways, which would greatly contribute to increased safety and decreased traffic congestion. Algorithms for merging control of vehicles using the concept of a virtual vehicle and for inter-vehicle communication for the control are presented. A virtual vehicle is generated by mapping a vehicle on one lane onto another lane, in order to enable longitudinal control between a vehicle on a main lane and one on a sub lane to make smooth merging. The inter-vehicle communication is essential in the merging control algorithm, because the generation of the virtual vehicle requires the inter-vehicle communication. The data transmission in the communication consists of an intra-platoon algorithm and an inter-platoon one. The former is featured by provision of the interruption detective gaps that allow us to reduce transmission delay caused by collision, and the latter is featured by data transmission only between lead vehicles. Simulation results show the efficiency of the data transmission and the feasibility of merging control using the data transmission algorithm. When a platoon consists of ten vehicles, the transmission rate is three times as efficient as the conventional algorithm and it is sufficient for merging control