Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) Platoon Stability Analysis Based on Dynamic Topology-based Model Under Communication Failure

Abstract As a form of future traffic system, connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) platoon is a typical nonlinear physical system. The CAVs can communicate with each other and exchange information. However, there is a possibility of communication failure. This failure results in the change of the platoon system status. To characterize this change, this paper proposes a dynamic topology-based car-following model and its generalized form. Then, stability analysis method is explored. Finally, taking the dynamic cooperative intelligent driver model (DC-IDM) as an example, the results of a series of numerical simulations conducted to analyze platoon stability for different communications topology scenarios are presented. The results show that communication failure leads to reduced stability, but information from more vehicles ahead and setting a larger desired time headway help to improve it. Moreover, this paper studies the critical ratio of communication failures required to ensure stability for different driving parameters.