Reachability analysis for managing platoons at intersections

In this work we address the management of a platoon of vehicles passing an intersection. In such a situation we have to decide under which conditions the platoon can pass the intersection in its entirety while avoiding collisions. If this cannot be assured, the platoon should be stopped at the intersection line or possibly split. For this purpose a decision about the vehicle from which the platoon should be divided in two sub-platoons must be taken. In this case, the part ahead can drive safely through the intersection, while the second part must wait at the stop line for a permission to pass. The decision is made based on the results of reachability analysis of hybrid systems. The dynamics of the controlled platoon and the vehicle on the other side of the intersection is modeled as a linear time invariant system with uncertain input. For the computation of reachable sets we use our method based on zonotopes as approximation sets. We show how decisions to manage the platoon at the intersection under safety guarantees can be supported by the results of the reachability analysis and information about the intersection infrastructure.