Cruise Controllers for Lane-Free Ring-Roads based on Control Lyapunov Functions

TL;DR

This paper develops decentralized cruise controllers for autonomous vehicles on lane-free ring-roads using Control Lyapunov Functions based on energy measures, ensuring stability and safety.

Contribution

It introduces novel control laws for lane-free ring-road scenarios, utilizing energy-based Lyapunov functions for decentralized vehicle control.

Findings

Controllers ensure stability and safety on ring-roads.

Decentralized control laws depend on local vehicle states.

Analysis highlights differences between straight and ring-road scenarios.

Abstract

The paper introduces novel families of cruise controllers for autonomous vehicles on lane-free ring-roads. The design of the cruise controllers is based on the appropriate selection of a Control Lyapunov Function expressed on measures of the energy of the system with the kinetic energy expressed in ways similar to Newtonian or relativistic mechanics. The derived feedback laws (cruise controllers) are decentralized (per vehicle), as each vehicle determines its control input based on: (i) its own state; (ii) either only the distance from adjacent vehicles (inviscid cruise controllers) or the state of adjacent vehicles (viscous cruise controllers); and (iii) its distance from the boundaries of the ring-road. A detailed analysis of the differences and similarities between lane-free straight roads and lane-free ring-roads is also presented.