Distributed nonlinear model predictive control for connected autonomous electric vehicles platoon with distance-dependent air drag formulation

This paper addresses the leader tracking problem for a platoon of heterogeneous autonomous connected fully electric vehicles where the selection of the inter-vehicle distance between adjacent vehicles plays a crucial role in energy consumption reduction. In this framework, we focused on the design of a cooperative driving control strategy able to let electric vehicles move as a convoy while keeping a variable energy-oriented inter-vehicle distance between adjacent vehicles which, depending on the driving situation, was reduced as much as possible to guarantee air-drag reduction, energy saving and collision avoidance. To this aim, by exploiting a distance-dependent air drag coefficient formulation, we propose a novel distributed nonlinear model predictive control (DNMPC) where the cost function was designed to ensure leader tracking performances, as well as to optimise the inter-vehicle distance with the aim of reducing energy consumption. Extensive simulation analyses, involving a comparative analysis with respect to the classical constant time headway (CTH) spacing policy, were performed to confirm the capability of the DNMPC in guaranteeing energy saving.