Multi-Technology Cooperative Driving: An Analysis Based on PLEXE

Abstract

Cooperative Driving requires ultra-reliable communications, and it is now clear that no single technology will ever be able to satisfy such stringent requirements, if only because active jamming can kill (almost) any wireless technology. Cooperative driving with multiple communication technologies which complement each other opens new spaces for research and development, but also poses several challenges. The work we present tackles the fallback and recovery mechanisms that the longitudinal controlling system of a platoon of vehicles can implement as a distributed system with multiple communication interfaces. We present a protocol and procedure to correctly compute the safe transition between different controlling algorithms, down to autonomous (or manual) driving when no communication is possible. To empower the study, we also develop a new version of PLEXE, which is an integral part of this contribution as the only Open Source, free simulation tool that enables the study of such systems with a modular approach, and that we deem offers the community the possibility of boosting research in this field. The results we present demonstrate the feasibility of safe fallback, but also highlight that such complex systems require careful design choices, as naïve approaches can lead to instabilities or even collisions, and that such design can only be done with appropriate in-silico experiments.

Characterization of Transient Communication Outages Into States to Enable Autonomous Fault Tolerance in Vehicle Platooning

“…In [33], Segata et al propose a state machine in which the states are represented by different CACC and ACC controllers. The authors propose that the vehicles have multiple communication interfaces such as the IEEE 802.11p [34], Visible Light Communications (VLC), and Long-Term Evolution (LTE).…”

Centralized Model-Predictive Control with Human-Driver Interaction for Platooning

“…2) Cellular V2X (C-V2X): Albeit all of the above protocols and modifications, IEEE 802.11p alone seems not to be sufficient for meeting the strict requirements of CACC (i.e., ultra-low reliability and latency) [26]. The most prominent alternative for enabling V2X communication is C-V2X, which uses 3GPP standardized 5G cellular networks.…”

CAVVPM: Challenge-Based Authentication and Verification of Vehicle Platooning at Motorway

“…Verification of Platooning. Many publications have addressed platoon access control [ 5 , 7 , 19 ]. The convoy is a physical context-based platoon entrance mechanism [ 5 ].…”

“…It cannot determine the distance either. The driving trajectory was employed to prove platoon membership by Vaas et al [ 19 ] and Juuti et al [ 7 ]. A contender recorded its own trajectory as platooning evidence.…”

“…Candidate member C participates in a challenge–response process with a verifier V (usually the platoon’s last vehicle) to link his online signature with his physical trajectory before being accepted into the platoon. A PoF is a complementary approach to digital authentication since it provides physical access control [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Since cars currently in the platoon may send bogus messages, this does not prohibit them from doing so.…”