Publication
Lateral Control of Heavy Duty Vehicles in Platooning using Model Predictive Control
This thesis focuses on the lateral control of heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) in platooning. A Model Predictive Controller is designed, implemented and evaluated in the Simulink based simulation environment PreScan using high-fidelity HDV models provided by Volvo Group Trucks Technology (Volvo GTT). The results show that the platoon is able to avoid string instability by tracking the leading vehicle. Furthermore, the platoon is able to avoid obstacles within its lane and tracks the leading vehicle with maximum deviation of 10 cm in the absence of sensor noise. Additionally, a Kalman filter is implemented and evaluated in the presence of noise. Given the performance of the MPC and its lane keeping capabilities, MPC seems to be a suitable choice for platooning, especially since its main drawback, the computational demand, is a diminishing problem as technology advances.