Multi-Lane Merging Control for Vehicular Platoons in 2-D Planar With Prescribed Performance

In this article, the issue of multi-lane merging control for a group of connected vehicles modeled as third-order nonlinear dynamics in two-dimension (2-D) plane is investigated, wherein uncertain dynamics, external disturbances, and performance constraints are taken into account. To eliminate the unnecessary heading control response, a virtual vehicle strategy is first introduced, and a new tracking model for both spacing and angle is further constructed. Then, based on two pairs of novel finite-time performance functions (FnTPFs), an improved prescribed performance control (PPC) method is proposed, which enables the boundaries of the FnTPFs to be actively adjusted according to the magnitude of the tracking errors, thus playing a positive role in mitigating singularity and accelerating the convergence rate. In what follows, a new control scheme, by the virtue of composite finite-time sliding mode surface, is developed. It is proved that the control algorithm designed in this paper is capable of driving the errors (namely spacing error and heading error) approach to a predefined region with a given time with explicit upper bound, that is the finite-time individual vehicle stability can be guaranteed, and meanwhile, the finite-time string stability and the reachability of finite-time prescribed performance are also realized. In the end, the validity of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by constructing serious of simulations and experiments based on ITS-NEU platform.