AV-Connect Inc is developing vehicle platoons for urban traffic management. The firm presents a model-predictive control (MPC) based approach for vehicle platooning in an urban traffic setting. The primary goal is to demonstrate that vehicle platooning has the potential to significantly increase throughput at intersections, which can create bottlenecks in the traffic flow. To do so,the approach relies on vehicle connectivity: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. In particular, the firm introduces a customized V2V message set which features a velocity forecast, i.e. a prediction on the future velocity trajectory, which enables platooning vehicles to accurately maintain short following distances, thereby increasing throughput. Furthermore, V2I communication allows platoons to react immediately to changes in the state of nearby traffic lights, e.g. when the traffic phase becomes green, enabling additional gains in traffic efficiency.
