Connected Cooperative Control of Autonomous Vehicles During Unexpected Road Situations

Abstract

This article discusses how connected cooperative control of autonomous vehicles (AVs) can help in providing safe and comfortable mobility during unexpected road situations. Driving AVs in urban areas poses a big challenge due to the complexity of the traffic rules as well as unexpected scenarios involved. In these situations, an inter-vehicle communication system can be of great help. Cooperation between multiple AVs is possible with the development of vehicular communication. In particular, state estimation can be improved with multiple sources of information gathered from different vehicles. Cooperative state estimation can also improve robustness against communication failure. With future trajectories shared among nearby vehicles, the motion can be coordinated to make navigation safer and smoother for AVs. For vehicular communication, the IEEE 802.11p standard has been designed to allow information exchange between high-speed cars, and between vehicles and roadside infrastructure. Other wireless communication technologies, such as 3G, 4G, and WiFi, are also suggested.