Cohorts and groups for safe and efficient autonomous driving on highways

• Published in: 2011 IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference (VNC) pp. 1 - 8
• Main Author: Le Lann, G.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-11-2011
• Subjects: Antennas; Autonomous Driving; Delay; Dependability; Media Access Protocol; Safety; Telemetry; V2V Communications; Vehicles; Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks
• ISBN: 9781467300490; 1467300497
• ISSN: 2157-9857; 2157-9865
• DOI: 10.1109/VNC.2011.6117117

We introduce constructs aimed at reconciling safety and efficiency for ad hoc highway-centric clusters of autonomous vehicles. The cohort construct is an ad hoc variant of the platoon construct. We show how to enforce safe inter-vehicle spacing in cohorts despite inaccurate vehicle space-time coordinates and failing telemetry capabilities, via neighbor-to-neighbor beaconing based on short range unidirectional communications. Worst-case analytical results are established for safe spacing bounds. A classical spacing algorithm is revisited, and proofs of usability in a discrete time beaconing model are given. Along with the group construct, which is based on prefixing usage of sensing-based solutions with omnidirectional inter-vehicular communications, we present a categorization of safety-critical scenarios. We discuss the benefits resulting from prefixing vehicle maneuvers with vehicle role assignments in safety-critical scenarios.