Application of command shaping to a convoy of ground vehicles

This paper documents the effect that command shaping has on the inter-vehicular spacing performance of autonomous convoys. The control method is based only on distance measurements between vehicles in the platoon. The lead vehicle´s longitudinal controller was developed to follow a given velocity. The follower vehicles maintain the desired spacing using distance measurements to the preceding and following vehicles. Three overall control schemes were experimentally tested: PD control without lead vehicle velocity information, PD control with lead vehicle velocity information and PID control without lead vehicle velocity information. In all cases adding command shaping led to improved performance. This approach leads to more physically realizable controller efforts for the follower vehicles and helps maintain and improve string stability.